


Forever and Always

by Hopelesslydevoted21d



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Chaptered, F/M, Niall Horan - Freeform, one direction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-08
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-18 04:17:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 42,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/875532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopelesslydevoted21d/pseuds/Hopelesslydevoted21d
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kat Michelson grew up next door to The Niall Horan, but she hasn't spoken to him in five years and she doesn't expect to anytime soon.  But when she wakes up in Mullingar and is thrust into his life again, old feelings are revealed.  Will she be able to deal with his newfound fame?  Have they changed too much, or will their love last forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Morning After

*Kat’s POV*

Something startles me awake and I pry my eyes open against the blinding light to see a bus screeching to a halt. I muster up what little energy I have and wave him along. I slowly take in my surroundings; the street in front of me, the cold metal bench pressed up against my bare legs, I sit up and see a sign that tells me I’m at a bus stop. How did I get here? And where exactly is here? I can’t remember anything and the pounding in my head is making all that much harder to think. Ok Kat get your shit together what do you remember? I know I’m somewhere in Ireland Em and I took a vacation to Dublin. I look down at my pink sequined dress that barely covers my ass and remember that we went out to the pub last night but I can’t remember anything past walking in and ordering a shot. I hear a muffled vibration from underneath the bench. I look down and find my purse and phone thank god it still has a charge. I gather my belongings and place them in a heap on my lap before opening the text message I had received. 

Em: hey dnt mean to sound like a mom but just wanted to make sure ur ok. U nvr made it back to the hotel last night did ya get lucky ;)

My fingers quickly glided over the keys and typed out a response

Yeah Im fine no need to worry Ill meet up with u later dnt no when tho

I feel slightly bad about letting Emily think nothing’s wrong but I don’t want to ruin her vacation just because I couldn’t handle my alcohol for some reason. For the first time since I woke up I actually look at the buildings around me and things start to look familiar, but not from last night, from my childhood in Mullingar. How the hell did I end up in Mullingar when I started the night almost an hour away in Dublin? I rummaged through my purse to find my wallet only coming up empty. Great just great! So I’m stranded an hour away from my hotel with no money and no way back what the hell am I going to do? I take my phone back out and scroll through my contacts stopping at one name: Greg Horan. Should I? Can I? It’s been almost 5 years since I’ve talked to anyone in that family and even when I lived next door Greg and I weren’t exactly close; we fought more than anything else. Face it Kat! You have no other options it’s time to put on your big girl panties and suck it up. I took a deep breath a shakily pressed call.

“Hello?”

“Greg?” my voice shook with nerves and fear

“Kat?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter was so short and nothing really happened i promise the rest of the fic won't be like this


	2. Star Struck

*Kat’s POV*

“Kat?” Greg asked confused and clearly not awake

‘I-I’m sorry I just-I didn’t know who else to call I woke up at a bus stop and I have no idea how I got here and I can’t remember anything and I just…” I quickly spit out trying to hold back tears as the seriousness of the situation starts to sink in.

“OK calm down everything’s going to be fine.” he says taking on the protective older brother attitude that I rarely saw when we were kids. He may not actually be my brother but to the Horans I had always been part of the family. “Where exactly are you?” he asked fully awake now.

“I’m in front of that Chinese restaurant with the scary old lady.” I replied, calmer now that I could tell Greg had a plan

“OK” he chuckled, probably recalling the memories of the woman yelling at us for fighting during dinner. “I’ll be there in 10 minutes” he said before ending the call before I could even say thank you.

It was only five minutes before he showed up, probably because there was no one on the road at 8 o’clock on a Sunday. He pulled up in front of me a put the car in park. I climbed in and groaned out a thanks before buckling my seat belt as Greg pulled away heading in the direction he came from. At this point my mind was finally clear of panic and started to focus on my wicked hangover. Between the blinding sun and Greg’s horrible taste in music my head felt like it was going to explode at any moment. I quickly reached over and flipped off the radio before sinking back into my seat and kicking my feet up on the dash. I probably shouldn’t be this comfortable around him; I mean I haven’t spoken to him in like 5 years I’m not exactly a close friend anymore and my behavior was bordering on rude for someone you’re not close to. I pushed the thought out of my head deciding that I don’t really care and lift my hand up to rub my forehead, letting out a slight groan.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hung-over” Greg chuckles.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been hung-over” I laugh.

“So what are you doing back in Mullingar?” he asked curiously

“My friend Emily and I came to Dublin for a summer vacation. We went out to the pub last night, we ordered a round of shots and the next thing I know I’m waking up on a bus bench in Mullingar.” I replied coolly, still baffled by the situation. I never black out. Hell I never get a hangover and I can drink like twice my body weight in liquor it just doesn’t make sense that I can’t remember anything. 

“Sounds like the definition of a good night” he jokes as he pulls into the garage of the house he grew up in. 

I slid out of the car and walked into the house not bothering to wait for Greg. I was comfortable here I think I spent more time in this house than I did in my own growing up. I kick off my shoes and throw them into the pile beside the door before walking into the living room. I look around and everything seems to be exactly the same as when we were kids the only difference being that some of the pictures have been swapped out for more recent ones and a few one direction items lay around. It’s crazy to think that the little boy I grew up with was now in an internationally famous boy band. I feel bad that I missed all of that, his rise to fame. I had always told him he needed to try out for one of those shows and then when he finally did I wasn’t even there to support him. I shake the thought from my head realizing that there’s nothing I can do about it now. Greg walks in and plops down on the couch turning on the TV. “I’m going to go take a shower” I mutter as I climb up the stairs hoping it might make me feel better and that I might regain some clarity as to what happened last night. 

 

*Greg’s POV*

I can’t believe Kat is back in Mullingar. Niall and I were just talking about her last night, recalling some memories of us getting into trouble as kids, most of it being because Kat and I were always at each other’s throats, but it was a more of a sibling battle for power than an actual dislike of each other. And I can’t believe she’s hung-over, she wasn’t even hung-over the first time she drank, she can handle her liquor better than most grown men that I know. I decided to see if Niall would pick up some hangover food for her on his way home. I reached into my pocket and dug out my phone before finding his name in my contacts and hitting the call button. 

“Yeah?” he answers

“Yeah I was wondering if you were going to be home soon.” I replied wanting to make sure I wasn’t screwing up his schedule. 

“Jeeze you sound like mum.” He joked “but yeah I’ll probably be leaving Dublin in a few minutes why?”

“I was wondering if you could pick up some hangover food from Bart’s on your way home.” I answered, finally getting to the reason I was calling.

“Sure no problem,” he laughed “do you want tacos or burritos?”

“Both.” I decided, unsure on which Kat would prefer. Niall was the one who knew how she ate, they both loved food. I suppose I could have told him it was for Kat but I kind of wanted to see his face when he saw her. They had been best friends and Niall always regretted losing touch with her.

“OK. See ya in about an hour” he replied “oh and we have a girl with us hope ya don’t mind”

“No. not at all.” I half lied. I didn’t mind if Niall came back with a girl but I was pretty sure Kat would. Though she would never admit it I think she’s always been in love with Niall. Every time he would talk about a girl he liked she would just sit there and smile, which is odd for Kat, she always has something to say. I just hope for Kat’s sake that this girl he’s bringing with him is attached to one of the other boys. 

*Emily’s POV*

I woke up to a loud bang coming from the room next door and glanced over to the clock. 7:45 awesome! Oh well I’m up now might as well start my day. I rolled out of bed and dragged myself into the bathroom to wash the smeared makeup of my face and run a hair through my tangled hair I filled a cup up with water reached for the Advil bottle and quickly downed two pills to try and help with the mild hangover. I walked out of the bathroom and noticed that Kats bed is made I guess she didn’t make it back to the hotel I try not to worry but I decide to send her a text just to make sure she’s fine. 

hey dnt mean to sound like a mom but just wanted to make sure ur ok. U nvr made it back to the hotel last night did ya get lucky ;)

I try not to sound too worried because Kat hates being checked up on, she’s too hell bent on being independent. She texts back quickly and I breathe a sigh of relief.

Kat: Yeah Im fine no need to worry Ill meet up with u later dnt no when tho

Looks like I’m on my own for the morning. I decide to get dressed and go find a star bucks. After talking to the guy at the front desk I’m pretty confident I can find my way to the star bucks he directed me to. After a quick five minute walk I saw the coffee shop and walked in ready to order. The place was practically empty and I ordered my iced vanilla latte and headed over to add some chocolate and grab a straw. I turned around quickly not expecting anyone to be behind me and nearly ran into someone. “Oh my god I’m so sorry!” I spit out embarrassed that I ran into the only other person walking around

“Don’t worry about it” he chuckled out. I finally look up at his face and I’m shocked when I’m met with a pair of striking blue eyes. “I’m Niall” he sates as if I didn’t already know. 

“E-Emily” I reply barely able to get that out in my star struck state. 

“I take it you’re a fan?” he asks smiling. I just nod unable to put together a proper sentence for fear of it not making any sense. “Well how’d you like to meet the others?” he asks. 

“That’d be great!” I manage to get out. He brought me over to the table where the rest of the boys were seated. They were all super nice and after awhile I began to relax. They invited me to spend the day with them and I jumped at the chance. I momentarily felt bad for leaving Kat in the dust but I shrugged it off knowing that she could take care of herself and she knows how big of a fan I am. Besides she’d probably be relieved that I’m not dragging her with me. We like a lot of the same things but whenever I get on a one direction rant she never joins in my excitement like she does with other things. We were getting ready to leave when Niall got a phone call. 

*Niall’s POV*

Greg called and asked me to pick him up some hangover food from Bart’s but basically gave me free reign on the food which is odd because Greg always knows exactly what he wants. I walked back over to the table where the boys and our new friend Emily were seated. “Have to make a pit stop on our way there Greg needs hangover food” I announced. A chorus of OKs and that’s fines rang out and we left, piling into the black SUV. We drove for about forty-five minutes in the direction of Mullingar before we came across Bart’s and I pulled in, parked the car and went inside. I came back out with four tacos, two burritos, two breakfast burritos, and two nacho platters and we were back on the road again. Before I knew it we were pulling into my drive way. We all get out and I was the last one inside and as I’m kicking off my shoes I notice a set of tall black heels. I didn’t think Emily was wearing heels, I’m like 80% positive she was wearing converse.


	3. Part of the Family

*Kat’s POV* 

I stepped out of the shower and wrapped myself in a towel. My shower made me feel a little better but now I was hungry and the thought of food made my stomach churn. Instinctively I walked into Niall’s room and found everything how it always was, right down to the mess of garbage and dirty clothes on the floor. I made my way over to the dresser and knelt down opening the bottom right hand drawer to find that my stash of clothes were still there. The only problem was that they were from when I was like twelve and probably didn’t fit anymore so I dug around until I found an old t-shirt and some boxers of Niall’s, I slipped them on and walked down stairs determined to find something to eat that wouldn’t have me running to the toilet. As I walked into the living room I stopped cold as I saw Greg along with all five member of one direction and…Emily? Emily and Harry were in some sort of heated discussion that left them both oblivious to the world around them while Louis and Liam played some video game I couldn’t care less about but Niall was watching them play intently. Greg and Zayn didn’t look up from their phones but occasionally interjected in Harry and Emily’s conversation I wasn’t so much stunned that one direction was there but more that Niall was there. What if he was mad at me for losing touch? What if he didn’t remember me? What if he thought Greg and I had hooked up or something? But all of my fears vanished when he looked up at me and gave me a smile that reminded me of Christmas mornings when we were younger. 

“I take it the hangover food is for you since Greg hasn’t touched it?” Niall asked with a laugh.

I glared over at Greg and asked “You made him pick me up Bart’s?”

“Yeah” he replied.

“Well why’d you make him get why didn’t you go get it?”

“It was on his way!” he shouted defensively “besides you already dragged me out of the house once this morning I wasn’t going to leave again.”

I rolled my eyes and walked around to sit next to Niall grabbing the bag of food in the process. “Well thank you” I say to Niall offering him a smile.

“No problem” he replied as I scarfed down a burrito. 

Emily had become distracted from her conversation with Harry and asked curiously “Do y’all know each other or something?”

“Yeah she grew up next door Niall and her are like best friends” Greg answered, confused as to why she was asking.

“Katherine Elaine Michelson!” Emily exclaimed “You knew Niall Horan and you never told me!”

“First of all lower your voice I’m hung-over,” I requested “second of all are you forgetting that I had to Google one direction because I didn’t know what it was? If I had told you that I didn’t know about one direction and then turned around and told you that I knew Niall you never would have believed me!”

“Yeah ok I guess your right” she conceded. 

“How do you know them?” I asked.

“We met at star bucks this morning.” She laughed.

“OK I want to go back to this ‘best friends’ comment of Greg’s.” Louis stated.

“What about it!” I asked defensively.

“Well first of all we’ve never heard him mention you,” he stated sassily “second of all we’re his best friends” he added motioning between him and the other members of the boy band. 

“Really?” I replied sarcastically “Did he accidently break your finger when you were three by closing it in a car door?”

“No.”

“Did you and Niall get the chicken pox together when you were five?”

“No.”

“And did you and Niall give yourselves food poisoning when you tried to cook yourselves lunch when you were 10?”

“No.”

“Then I think I have more of a right to call myself his best friend than you do.” I stated mostly joking.

“Well then how come he’s never mentioned you? Hmm?”

“Lou you’re an idiot he has mentioned her he’s just never given us a name” Liam interjected. 

“What?” Louis asked confused.

“Like every story from when he was younger involves a little girl. I’m willing to bet she’s that little girl” Harry laughed. 

“Well if you’re supposedly his best friend then where were you while he was on the x-factor?” he asked trying to gain some control back.

“In the States, no one told me he was trying out” I grinded out glaring over at Greg and Niall who instantly looked away.

“Forget it Lou, you’re never going to win this argument she’s too stubborn.” Niall stated trying to move on from the topic. Louis just scoffed and seemed to drop it.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Katherine was it?” Liam asked.

“I mean, only when Emily’s mad at me. The rest of the time I’m Kat” I laughed out. 

“Kat’s a nice name, I likes cats” Harry smirked and I just laughed and shook my head. 

“OK so we know how you know Niall and Greg, but how do you know Emily?” Zayn inquired. 

“Emily and I met in high school after I moved to the states. We came to Dublin on vacation together.” I responded. 

“So if you and Emily were vacationing together then how did you end up in Mullingar and her in Dublin this morning?” Niall asked confused.

“I don’t know I woke up on a bus bench in front of that Chinese restaurant with the scary old lady Greg rescued me.” I replied.

“Mrs. Li?”

“Yeah”

“You probably ended up here because you went looking for Niall last night.” Emily stated plainly. 

“I did what now”

“Yeah someone mentioned that one direction was in town and before I knew it you were leaving to go find Niall. Some guy even tried to follow you out and you were like ‘NO! I HAVE TO GO FIND NIALL’ I thought you were just letting your inner fan girl out because you were drunk.”

“Oh my god” I groaned as I buried my face in my hands “oh well at least I know what I did last night I’m not sure I want any details though.”

Slowly everyone went back to what they had been doing before. Louis ended up winning the video game and Niall replaced Liam. I ate another burrito as well as two tacos and some nachos and I felt much better now that there was food in my stomach. I started to get cold and decided to go find some pants. I trudged upstairs back into Niall’s room and dug around his dresser searching for some sweatpants. I finally found an old pair of Niall’s they wouldn’t fit him anymore but they’d fit me comfortably. I slipped them on and headed back downstairs. Niall must have lost the game because Louis was now playing Zayn. I walked around to take my place next to Niall and he looked up with a smirk on his face. 

“What do you think you’re wearing?” he asked.

“Pants.” I replied nonchalantly. 

“Uh yeah my pants!”

“Mine now”

“Uh uh I don’t think so”

“Oh shut up they’re from when you were like twelve they probably don’t even fit anymore. Besides they were in my drawer!”

“Oh my god you have a drawer here!?” Emily laughed.

“Well she had to she spent more time here than she did at her own house and always ended up wearing my clothes!” Niall exclaimed.

“She had a drawer in the bathroom too” Greg chuckled. 

Our conversation was interrupted by the front door swinging open and Maura’s melodic voice calling out for Greg and Niall. The two boys stood up to go help her with the groceries and I followed, knowing that the only reason my name wasn’t called was because she didn’t know I was here. I walked outside and when she saw me she set her bags back down and ran over to me enveloping me in a hug. “Kat! It’s so good to see you again this house has been to quiet without you and Greg fighting…but it has been cleaner now that you and Niall aren’t tearing through here like a hurricane” she exclaims. 

“Thanks Miss Maura it’s good to see you too I’ve missed you!” I answer cheerily. 

We gathered up the groceries in the kitchen and fell into the same routine we had followed for so many years. Greg and Maura unpacked bags while Niall filled up the pantry and I filled up the fridge. Slowly the rest of the boys and Emily migrated into the kitchen with us. 

“Wow! You really did spend a lot of time here didn’t you?” Emily asked making fun of our assembly line.

“Sometimes I forgot that I didn’t actually have a daughter!” Maura laughed. “What are you doing back in Mullingar?” she asked turning her attention to me.

“My friend Emily and I came to Dublin on vacation” I said motioning over to Emily.

“Apparently she got piss drunk and went out looking for Niall last night” Greg stated ratting me out.

“Oh my god Greg shut up!” I yelled at him.

“Make me” he taunted back. 

“Fine!” I yelled out as I lunged towards him. He tried to run but I was quicker and tackled him to the ground before he could get away. We were wrestling on the kitchen floor and before long I had him pinned to the ground demanding an apology but he quickly regained control and pinned me to the ground. I started squirming and screaming trying to wriggle out of his tight grip but it was no use, he was a lot bigger and stronger than me. 

“Children! Enough!” Maura shouted out in her best “stern mother” voice that sent Greg and me flying off the floor and back to our seats quietly apologizing. “So what does every one want for lunch?” she asked going back to her routine. Everyone told her what they wanted on their sandwiches and she shooed them out of the kitchen leaving the two of us to fill their orders. “So how long are you here for?” she asked curiously.

“About 2 more weeks.” I replied

“You’ll stay here? Yes?”

“Oh I don’t-“I started

“The boys have some time off and their all staying in town. It wouldn’t be the same having Niall and Greg home and you in some hotel. You’re part of the family, always have been. You’re staying here. End of discussion.”

“But what about Emily?”

“That girl will end up in Harry’s hotel room by the end of tonight don’t you worry.”

“Wha-I-uh” I stuttered unsure of how to react to the bold comment.

“It’s the truth! The way they keep looking at each other I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re dating tomorrow.”

“O-OK”

“Good! Then it’s settled you’re staying here!”


	4. Birthday Surprise

*Niall’s POV*

It’s been about a week since we ran into Emily and Kat. Emily and Harry have become a rather nauseating couple, but they’re cute together nonetheless. Kat has been staying at the house with me and Greg and somehow she always finds her way into my clothes, even though she had the hotel send over her bags. I always give her a hard time about it but in all honestly I liked it when she wore my clothes, there was something about it that made my heart race. I had always had a crush on her when we were kids but I thought I had gotten over it in the five years that we had lost touch. Seeing her now it was clear that I still had feelings for her. It was her birthday today and I had a special day planned for her…that is if she would ever wake up. Although to be fair I probably wouldn’t be up so early if I wasn’t so excited about my plans. 

“Morning” she mumbled as she rubbed her sleep ridden eyes. She was wearing her own shirt for once but she threw on one of my hoodies and a pair of my sweatpants.

“MORNING BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!” I yelled as I ran over to her picking her up and spinning her around.

“It’s too early to be so loud and energetic.”

“Kat, it’s almost noon”

“Your point?”

“Just wake up and get dressed I have a surprise for you”

“Ni you know I hate surprises just tell me what you have planned.”

“Nope” I said popping the p. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Fine” she groaned as she trudged back upstairs to go get ready. “Do I have to be dressed up for this surprise” she called for the top of the stairs.

“Kat I really couldn’t care less about what you wear it’s just gonna be us” I replied, not wanting to give away too much of the surprise. 

“OK. I’m ready let’s go” she said as trotted down the stairs. She was wearing my Oklahoma sweatshirt and a pair of my sweatpants. She wasn’t wearing any make up and her long brown hair was in a messy bun at the very top of her head. I think I liked her best like this, when she didn’t put any effort into how she looked and just let her natural beauty shine through. To me she was always the most beautiful girl in the world, but she really took my breath away when she didn’t try to look a certain way. 

“Who said you could wear my clothes” I joked. 

“I did” she stated certainly, as if she never needed my permission, which she didn’t really, I had learned a long time ago that no one could tell Kat what to do.

“Well then,” I scoffed “let’s go.” We got into my car and I drove about ten minutes up the road to the old park that we had spent so many weekends and practically the whole summer when we were kids. It was hidden now by a thick layer of vines that covered the fence, leaving it unknown to the current generation and abandoned by the others who had no use for it now. I pulled over to the side of the street and put the car in park. “Here we are” I said smiling over to her.

“This is the surprise? You brought me to a park that we walked to almost every day when we were kids?” she asked skeptically.

“It’s only part of the surprise jeeze, you don’t have to look so disappointed.”

“OK OK sorry!”

“Come on hurry up!” I said dragging her by the hand over to the gate that you would only notice if you knew where to look for it. 

“Niall it is really not that serious of a situation. I’m sure the playground won’t disappear in the ten seconds it takes to walk from the car to the gate” she replied amused by my impatience. 

“I know I’m just excited ok” I said apologetically. I opened the gate and we walked through revealing the old picnic basket and blanket that my mum would always pack us when we would come down here for the day. I watched her face intently searching for a reaction, suddenly terrified that she wouldn’t like it, and slowly but surely a smile appeared on her face and relief washed over me. 

“You made us a picnic?”

“Yeah do you like it?”

“Yeah. It’s adorable.”

“Oh thank god I was worried you wouldn’t like it.” I walked over to the blanket and started unpacking the basket. “OK so I made all of your favorites…”

“Wait you made the food?”

“OK no mum made them but I decided on the menu.”

“OK good don’t wanna get food poisoning again.”

We spent almost the entire day down at the park, exchanging childhood memories like the time she broke Greg’s arm or when I tried to teach her how to play guitar and swore I would never teach her anything ever again. It was starting to get dark and we were on the swings talking when I decided it was time to give her my present. 

“Ready for you present now?” I asked.

“You mean the picnic wasn’t my present?” she asked confused.

“Give me some credit Kat I did actually get you something to open that’s the best part of presents.”

“Well excuse me for being content with a picnic!”

“Happy birthday” I said handing her the envelope with her name written crudely in crayon on it. “But before you open it if you hate it you can totally reject it and I will take you to the jewelry store and get you whatever you want” I rattle off quickly afraid that she’d hate my present.

“Good to know” she smirked opening the envelope.

*Kat’s POV*

“But before you open it if you hate it you can totally reject it and I will take you to the jewelry store and get you whatever you want” he spit out nervously in a manner that reminded me of when he accidently broke his moms favorite vase and had to tell her when she got home.

“Good to know” I joked trying to get him to relax. I opened the envelope and found a folded up piece of construction paper. “What’s this?” I asked.

“Just-just read it OK” he stuttered out still nervous.

I unfolded the piece of construction paper and stared at it for a second trying to figure it out. There was a giant heart in the middle and a picture of a boy and a girl holding hands, both crudely drawn, and then at the bottom of the page in shaky handwriting ‘be my valentine’. “OK seriously Ni, what is this?” I asked confused. 

“It’s the valentine I made for you when we were ten. I chickened out and didn’t end up giving it to you. I guess it’s taken me nine years to finally work up the courage.”

“Ni―” I started but he cut me off before I could finish my thought.

“Look I really like you and if you don’t feel the same way then that’s fine I totally understand and I’ll get over it because I really don’t want to lose you as a friend so like I said you can totally reject my present and I’ll take you to get anything you want I just had to tell you how I feel while I had the courage.” He rattled off quickly unsure of my reaction.

“Ni it’s fine chill out I like you too.” I chuckled.

“That’s fine I get it like I said…wait…what? You mean you feel the same way?”

“Yeah I’ve had a crush on you ever since we were five and Jimmy McIntire called me a ninny and you pushed him into a puddle and told him not to call your friends names.”

He jumped off his swing a kneeled in front of mine before exclaiming, “You like me? Like as in like like me? Like as in more than just a friend?”

“Yes! Why is that so hard for you to grasp!”

“I’m sorry. I guess I just find it hard to believe that a girl as beautiful as you would like me.”

“OK let’s not get dramatic now” I joked.

“But I’m not! You are beautiful and I do find it hard to believe that you like me!” he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before leaning in and pecking me on the lips. He pulled away from the kiss much too quickly for my taste so I leaped forward off my swing, both of us falling to the ground as my lips found his again kissing him passionately. After a few seconds I pulled away and squealed a little bit in awe that I finally got to kiss him. He just laughed at my reaction with a huge smile plastered across his face. “We should probably head back now.” He declared.

“Do we have to?” I pouted not wanting this perfect moment to end.

“Babe I told the boys to be over at 5 and its now ten after so yeah kinda.”

“Fine” I groaned. I rolled off of him and helped pack up the picnic basket and headed to his car. 

*Niall’s POV*

We walked hand in hand back to the car and I loaded her in and threw the picnic basket in the back. I smiled like an idiot the whole way back knowing that she was finally mine…err…that we were together. Kat would shoot me if she had heard the possessive thought that had just ran through my head. She would probably scold me saying something about not being property and not belonging to anyone. Kat could get very passionate about things, and women’s rights and independency were two of them, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love her for it. Before I knew it we were pulling up to my house. I whipped my car in the driveway and threw it in park, hopping out and quickly running around to the other side to open the door for Kat. When I opened the car door she threw her arms out helplessly and I just stared at her. 

“Niii” she whined.

“Whaaat” I mocked.

“It’s too far give me a piggy back”

“Your legs aren’t broken put ‘em to use”

“Please” she pouted and gave me her best puppy dog face that I could never say no to.

“Fine” I conceded. I turned around and hunched over waiting for her to hop on. She did and I closed the door and carried her to the house. I dropped my keys on the table near the front door and carried her into the living room carefully dropping her on the couch. 

“Where have you two been you told us to be here at five your twenty minutes late” Liam chided.

“Hey not fair! It’s my birthday you have to be nice to me and you can’t complain about anything I do! Those are the birthday rules!” Kat scolded

“Well who made those rules?” Liam asked

“I don’t know those are just the rules. Everyone knows them.” She replied. “Hey where do you think you’re going mister?” she asked me as she noticed me head for the stairs. 

“I just have to go get something real quick I’ll be right back princess. I promise” I replied as I dashed up the stairs.

“Princess? When did she get an upgrade” I heard Louis exclaim as I entered Greg’s room to get Kat’s real present. 

*Kat’s POV*

“This afternoon!” I answered Louis.

“Well it about god damn time” Greg scoffs.

“My present was a valentine he made me when we were ten but never had the guts to give me.”

“Oh my gosh that’s adorable” Emily squeals in excitement. Niall bounded back down the stairs with a small box with a blue ribbon tied around it.

“OK so here’s your actual present.” He said handing me the velvety box. I untied the ribbon and slowly opened up the box preparing myself knowing that whatever Niall got me would be both expensive and stunning. Peeling back the tissue paper I revealed a silver chained necklace with a small flower pendant with a diamond in the middle that was surrounded by sapphire petals and had an emerald stem and leaf. It was just like the one my grandmother had promised to give me on my 18th birthday; unfortunately it was lost with all of her other jewelry when her house was broken into. 

“Ni” I choked out holding back tears.

“I know it’s a year late but I hope you still like it” he whispered.

“Ni I love it where on earth did you find it” I asked amazed that it looked so similar to my gradmother’s. 

“In an antique store when we were in Paris last year, when I saw it I had to get it.”

“Thank you so much this is like the best present I ever could have asked for.”

“And here I thought you loved my first present.”

“Well that one was pretty good too!”

“OK OK enough sap time for cake!” Louis exclaims. 

They brought in the cake and sang happy birthday to me and after that we all just hung out like normal playing video games and chatting about nothing. Time flew by and soon enough it was getting late and Emily and the boys left. Greg went to his room leaving me and Niall cuddled up on the couch watching some pointless show on TV. I was trying desperately to stay awake to see the ending but I was losing the battle and I let a yawn escape my lips. 

“Babe if you’re tired we can go to bed we don’t have to continue watching this” Niall cooed in my ear.

“No no” I said between yawns “I’m fine.”

“OK come on lets go to bed.” Niall stated turning off the TV and dragging me off the couch. 

We walked up the stairs and into his bedroom and suddenly I got nervous. Niall and I had been sharing his bed this whole time which ordinarily was no big deal, we always shared a bed. But now that we were together it felt different. What if he expected more now? What if he wanted to have sex? I’ve never done anything with a guy before; to be honest he was my first kiss this afternoon. But I know for a fact he’s had sex, Julie Abrams had made sure to rub it in my face the second she had slept with Niall. I was in the middle of internally freaking out when Niall turned to me.

*Niall’s POV*

I stripped down to my boxers to sleep and turned around to see Kat standing at the doorway looking like a deer in headlights. “We don’t have to do anything you know. I don’t expect anything. Just sleeping in the same bed like always. But if you’re not even comfortable with that then I’ll go downstairs and sleep on the couch. I wouldn’t never do anything you’re not comfortable with you know that right?” I said trying to ease her fears. 

“Logically I know that yes” she sighed going in for a hug. “I think I just needed to hear it.”

“OK so you’re sure you OK with this because like I said if you’re not I can go sleep on the couch.” I reassured.

“I’m sure” she said releasing me to go change. She stripped down to her underwear and then threw on an old t-shirt of mine before climbing into bed. I turned off the light and climbed in next to her. She wriggled up close to me resting her head on my chest and placing her arm over my stomach. I wrapped my arms around her holding her tight and smiled to myself glad I could finally hold my princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it’s so long I just got carried away writing this one and I think it turned out really well. Let me know what you guys think feedback is always welcome. :)


	5. Date Night

*Kat’s POV*

“But I don’t want to be a princess! I want to be a warrior!” I complained to Niall who was insisting that I had to be the princess. 

“You’re the girl so you have to be the princess! Girls aren’t allowed to be warriors!” He countered.

“Not true! Mulan was a warrior!”

“And Mulan broke the rules! You can’t break the rules because you’re not Mulan!”

“Who says?”

“I do! Now you have to be the princess!”

“NO! I don’t want to be the princess and I’m not going to play with you until you let me be a warrior!”

“Fine! I didn’t want to play with you anyway!” he said as we stormed off to our respective houses.

“Mommy I am never going to play with Niall again he won’t let me be a warrior! He says I’m only allowed to be a princess because I’m a girl!” I whined to my mother as I stomped up the stairs to my bedroom. She followed me in and sat down on my bed.

“Why don’t you want to be a princess?” my mom asked me.

“Because they don’t do anything! They just sit there and wait to be rescued! I want to have fun too! I want to be like Mulan!”

“So you want to be a warrior and Niall wants you to be a princess?”

“Yes.”

“Then why can’t you be both?”

“Mom! Princesses can’t be warriors! Everyone knows that!”

“Well who says?”

“I don’t know!”

“Exactly! If you want to be a warrior and Niall wants you to be a princess you can just be both! Then you’re both happy! Now why don’t you go apologize to Niall and see if he’s willing to play with you again.”

“Fine.” I groaned as I rolled out of bed and walked next door to see if Niall would let me be a warrior if I was also a princess. He agreed and we played until our parents called us for dinner. It’s funny how when we were little I dreaded the thought of being Niall’s princess and now I loved it. 

I was still wrapped up in Niall’s arms my head resting on his chest as I recalled our childhood memory. I smiled to myself and Niall must have felt it because he asked me what I was thinking about.

“I was just remembering when we were little and you told me I had to be a princess”

“Ha ha! You were so mad at me for not letting you be a warrior!”

“I was! I was ready to end our friendship over it too had my mom not interfered!”

“Little did you know I only wanted you to be the princess so I could treat you like royalty!”

“Let’s not get all deep here we were five I highly doubt you put that much thought into it!”

“Maybe not but I still thought you deserved the best!”

“Yeah ok!” I laughed “what time is it?” I asked changing the subject.

“About noon.”

“We should probably get up.”

“Nope” he said wrapping his arms around me tighter “this moment is too perfect I’m not letting you ruin it by getting up.”

“Ni we have to get up eventually.”

“Who says?”

“OK well eventually one of us will have to pee and then we really will have to get up.”

“I guess you’re right” he said releasing me from his tight grip.

“Besides I think I hear your mom in the kitchen and food sounds really nice right about now!” I said hopping out of bed throwing on a pair of his sweatpants and heading downstairs. Niall was quick to follow now that there was the prospect of food. He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and we stumbled into the kitchen together.

“Morning!” we said in unison.

“There are some blueberry pancakes on the counter and I’m making more right now” Maura said not bothering to turn around. Niall and I helped ourselves to some pancakes and sat down next to Greg at the breakfast bar to eat while Maura poured some batter into the pan on the stove. When she was content with her handiwork she turned around to face us. “OK what are you two up to?” she asked, “you have that look on your face.”

“Nothing!” Niall and I shouted defensively.

“They hooked up last night.” Greg interjected.

“Greg!” we yelled.

“What! It’s true!”

“What’s he talking about?” Maura asked confused.

“We’re kind of together now. Like we’re a couple” Niall stated shakily. Maura just stared at us for a moment and Niall and I looked at each other confused. 

“Oh that was it?” she asked.

“Yeah. You’re not surprised?” Niall asked puzzled.

“Honey I think everyone in this town expected that you two would end up together. It’s not exactly news worthy.” Niall and I just stared at her, mouths open making inaudible noises. “Eat your pancakes before they get cold.” She said pointing to our plates as she turned back around to tend to her pan.

After breakfast…well more like lunch…Maura left to go run errands and Greg left to go hang out with some girl he was talking to. It was raining so Niall and I decided to have a Disney movie marathon, complete with all of my favorites: Lady and the Tramp, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Mulan, The Rescuers, Peter Pan, The Brave Little Toaster, Tangled and Brave.

“What order do you want to watch them in?” Niall asked.

“Hmmm. Oldest to newest!”

“OK then line them up because I have no idea when any of them came out!”

“Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, The Rescuers, The Brave Little Toaster, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tangled and Brave.”

“How do you even know that off the top of your head?”

“I like Disney” I shrugged. “Plus it’s pretty easy if you pay attention to what the scenes look like. Like Peter Pan was made in 1953 and looks a lot different than Beauty and the Beast which was made in 1991 or Brave in 2012. You can tell what period they came out by what the characters and scenes look like.”

“The fact that you know what year those movies came out just off the top of your head is frightening.”

“I remember numbers well. Plus I wrote a research paper on Walt Disney in school.”

With that Niall popped in Peter Pan turned off the lights and sat down on the couch next to me. He pulled me into his side before placing a blanket over the two of us. We had just finished The Brave Little Toaster and were about to put in The Little Mermaid when Harry called asking if we wanted to go to dinner with him and Emily. We agreed and stopped our movie marathon to go get ready. To be honest I was feeling kind of bad that I pretty much ditched her when we came here on vacation together so I wanted to hang out with her for a little bit. We ended up going to the Chinese restaurant about ten minutes away, Mrs. Li recognized me immediately and said she was glad that Greg wasn’t with us because she didn’t have to worry about us scaring off her customers. We ate a ton of food and chatted about mindless things. After dinner Emily and I decided we wanted to get ice cream. The ice cream parlor was pretty busy so Emily and I went inside to get the ice cream while the boys waited outside. 

“Have you gotten your e-mail yet?” Emily asked taking advantage of the fact that we were alone.

“No still waiting” I replied discouraged.

“Have you even told Niall about it?”

“No.”

“Well why not? I told Harry.”

“Did you mention me?”

“No I wasn’t sure if you told Niall or if you even wanted him to know so I left you out of it.”

“OK good.”

“Why don’t you want Niall to know?”

“Because I’m not expecting anything. Why give him the option if it probably won’t work out anyway?”

“You are like the most cynical person I know.”

“Yeah well…” I trailed off. 

We got up to the counter and placed our order walking back outside with four ice creams in hand. I handed Niall his ice cream and he looked at me suspiciously. 

“You ok babe?” He asked noticing my somber expression.

“Yeah fine!” I said smiling.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just tired is all.”

Niall dropped it and we spent another hour or so with Harry and Emily before heading back to Niall’s. We decided it was too late to finish our movie marathon and instead went to bed. Tonight however I wasn’t wrapped in his arms and I didn’t really sleep well; I had too much on my mind.


	6. Doubt

*Kat’s POV*

The next morning I woke up to a buzzing sound that mixed in the air with Niall groaning. The sun wasn’t even up yet so neither one of us was thrilled that something disturbed our slumber. “Babe your phone” Niall mumbled before turning over and burying his face in the pillow. I grabbed my phone to see who was texting me at such an unholy hour of the day.

Em: did u check your e-mail yet?

I got my e-mail

Did you get urs?

I quickly checked hoping I would have the e-mail I’ve been waiting months for. Sadly my inbox was empty.

Me: No. no e-mails whatsoever :(

Em: srry babe I thought that if I got mine u got urs :(

But maybe ull get it later today or this week they said it would be this week

Me: Yeah maybe :(

Em: srry I woke u 4 no reason go back to bed

Me: Its fine

I set my phone back on the nightstand and rolled over to try and sleep some more. Unfortunately it was useless; I was up for good now. Niall was snoring into his pillow and I didn’t have the heart to wake him up so I quietly slipped out of bed and went downstairs to find some food to drown my sorrows in. I drug myself downstairs and stumbled into the kitchen opening the refrigerator and saw nothing of interest so I opened the freezer and found some chocolate chocolate chip ice cream. I opened it up and grabbed a spoon, not bothering to get a bowl simply eating it straight from the container. I was eating my ice cream for about ten minutes when Maura came in. 

“What are you doing up so early?” she asked surprised.

“Couldn’t sleep” I replied. 

“Why not?”

I just shrugged as I stuffed my face with more ice cream. Maura pulled out a spoon and helped herself to some of the ice cream. 

“Kat I’ve know you since you were 2. I can tell when something’s bothering you, now spill.”

“Emily and I both applied for a theatre studies program at the London Study Centre. We were supposed to get our acceptance e-mails this week and Emily got hers but I haven’t gotten mine.”

“Why didn’t you tell Niall?”

“How did―”

“You wouldn’t be down here stuffing your face with ice cream alone at 7 o’clock on a Monday morning if you had.”

“I dunno. I guess I didn’t want to get my hopes up. You know how excited Niall can get about things.”

“When did Emily get her e-mail?”

“I guess this morning she woke me up asking if I got mine.”

“Then why are you so upset! I’m sure they have tons of e-mails they have to send out. There’s no need to assume the worst yet!”

“I know but shouldn’t they have some sort of automated messaging thing that just sends all the e-mails out at once?”

“Kat would you just take the little bit of hope I’m trying to give you! Neither you nor I know their system. The point is don’t get so upset over something that isn’t set in stone.”

“I guess you’re right. Thanks.”

We ate some more ice cream and then Maura went off to start her daily routine and I went to go take a shower. I let the warm water fall over my body and wash away my gloom. By the time I got out it was only 8 and Niall was still fast asleep so I did my best to tiptoe around the room so I didn’t wake him. I decided there was no use wallowing around waiting for an e-mail, if I wouldn’t do it for a boy I certainly wasn’t going to do it for a bunch of academic types that probably didn’t even know my name. I actually dressed in my own clothes for once throwing on some black leggings and a brown sequined tank top. I gave my hair some loose curls and put on a swipe of eyeliner and mascara. It was 9 now and Niall was still asleep, and I still had no e-mail. I was getting restless so I decided to wake him up; he couldn’t stay mad at me for too long right?

“WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!!!” I yelled as I ran into his room and jumped on him. He let out a groan but didn’t move so I continued my assault. “COME ON TIME TO GET UP! CAN’T SLEEP YOUR LIFE AWAY! WAKE UPWAKE UPWAKE UP!” I yelled as I jumped up and down on him making it impossible for him to ignore me. 

“What do you want with me this early in the morning?” he mumbled into his pillow.

“I want you to get up so that we can do something so that I’m not bored!” I replied in a childlike tone.

He rolled over to face me and I straddled him pecking his lips innocently as his hand found my hips. “Why do you look so nice today?” he asked and I just gave him a scowl. “I mean you look nice every day but usually you’re in my sweats with no makeup on and her hair just thrown wherever. And don’t get me wrong you look beautiful like that but today your wearing your own clothes and you did your hair and makeup so I was just wondering what the occasion was.” He backtracked.

“Nice save” I said pecking his lips again.

“No but seriously why did you put on real clothes.”

I shrugged. “I just felt like looking nice today. I thought we could do something.”

“OK what do you wanna do?”

“Well if I knew that I would be off doing it right now instead of trying to wake you up at 9 o’clock in the morning!”

“OK I have an idea! How about we head into Dublin for some shopping?”

“Sounds great!”

“OK want to go to Blanchardstown then?”

“Ehh” I thought about it for a moment. “Nah too big.” I decided.

“OK the how about Blackrock? They have that bookstore you love.”

“Perfect!”

“OK well if you want me to take you shopping you’re going to have to get off of me so I can get ready.”

“Ugh so demanding.” I joked as I hopped off of him and grabbed some ankle boots before I trotted downstairs to wait for him. It only took him about five minutes to get ready before he was bounding down the stairs and pulling me out the door. In the hour it took to get to Dublin we blared the radio and sang like idiots at the top of our lungs. Most couples went through a stage where they watched what they did or said at the beginning of the relationship but with Ni and me it was just natural he already knew all of my quirks and I already knew his so there was nothing to hide. It took the pressure off of being in a new relationship. Time flew and soon enough we were pulling into a parking space and getting out of his car.

“So anything in particular you want to look for?” he asked me.

“No I think I just want to browse.” I stated.

He pulled me into his side and threw his arm over my shoulder keeping me close as we walked around the shopping centre. About thirty minutes had passed before we came across my favorite bookstore. As soon as I saw it I dashed in pulling Niall by the hand behind me. I really loved books, if I was reading something I really liked you wouldn’t be able to pay me to put it down. I browsed around for a little bit looking at almost every book on the shelves. Niall had abandoned me not that far into my browsing and sat down in the lobby waiting for me to be done. Every now and then I would run out of space in my hands and run back to him setting books down next to him. 

“Are you done now?” He asked as I dropped off yet another stack of books. 

“Oh calm down! Why don’t you look around it won’t seem so long then.” I replied annoyed at his impatience.

“I did look around.”

“For like ten minutes.”

“No for an hour. Then I sat down and you looked for another hour.”

“It has not been that long!”

“Kat its 12:30! We walked in at 10:30.”

“Oh.” I replied sheepishly. “Sorry ill just check out and then we can grab some lunch.

“No! Finish looking I didn’t mean to rush you.”

“No no its fine I was done looking anyway.” I reassured him.

“If you say so.”

I brought my books to the register with Niall’s help and a few trips and paid for them. We left the bookstore in search for something to eat since my book excursion cut into Niall’s feeding time. We settled on a local café and ordered enough food to fuel a small army. We were there for about an hour before we paid the tab and decided to head back to Mullingar. There was an accident on the highway so it took a little longer to get back and we arrived back at the Horan Household going on 3. We got inside and Niall immediately went upstairs to change into something more comfortable leaving me to find something on TV. 

“Anything good on?” he called as he walked into the living room.

“Nope” I replied popping the p.

“Then how about we finish our movie marathon from yesterday?”

“See this is why I keep you around. For all these good ideas I would never think of.”

“And here I was worried you only liked me for my looks.”

“Ehh. They could use some work.”

“OK calm yourself. If I wanted sass I’d be with Louis.”

“Fine. I’ll behave.”

I popped in The Little Mermaid and cuddled up on the couch next to him. When the movie was over it was around 5 and Maura had started to make dinner so we decided we’d take a food break. After dinner Niall went to go shower while Maura and I cleaned up. 

“Feelin’ better than this morning?” She asked me as she handed me a plate to dry off.

“Yeah a little. Going out with Ni helped me get my mind off it.” I replied.

“Did you tell Niall?”

“No! I haven’t told him yet!”

“Why not? What are you afraid of?”

“Rejection…disappointment…need I go on?”

“OK OK I’m not going to tell you what to do but I think you’re over thinking the situation.”

*Niall’s POV*

I took a quick 10 minute shower and set out to find Kat and see if she wanted to continue our movie marathon. She wasn’t in my room or the living room so I figured she must still be in the kitchen helping mum clean up. As I was approaching the door I overheard them talking, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t help it I stopped cold at the mention of my name. 

“Did you tell Niall?” Mum asked Kat.

“No! I haven’t told him yet!” She shouted defensively.

“Why not? What are you afraid of?”

“Rejection…disappointment…need I go on?”

“OK OK I’m not going to tell you what to do but I think you’re over thinking the situation.”

I quietly went back upstairs to my room to process what I just heard. A million things ran through my head. What was she hiding from me? We’ve always told each other everything did she not trust me? Was she afraid I would reject her? Or that I would disappoint her? Why would she think that? And why couldn’t she just talk to me about it? I would never do anything to hurt her, not on purpose at least, she was my princess, always had been.


	7. Wrath

*Kat’s POV*

As Maura and I finished putting away dishes my phone buzzed in my pocket. I whipped it out and clicked on the e-mail notification and my heart dropped to my stomach. It was the e-mail I had been waiting for and I was suddenly terrified to open it up. I stared at the screen for what seemed like an eternity before I opened the e-mail and it wasn’t exactly good news, but I guess it wasn’t bad news either. I had been wait listed for the program, meaning I was accepted but I only got to go if someone else couldn’t. My heart sank, I was really hoping to go and right about now I was really glad that I hadn’t told Ni. If I had he would be disappointed for me and would probably dwell on it longer than I wanted to. I pushed my disappointment aside and told myself that it just wasn’t meant to be, everything happens for a reason right? I went to go find Niall because I could really use a cuddle now and found him on his bed, staring at the floor lost in thought. 

“Hey what’s wrong?” I asked Niall as I noticed the troubled look on his face.

Minutes drug on in silence before his head abruptly shot up. “Do you trust me?” He asked out of nowhere.

“Of course I do you know that.”

“But I don’t.”

“You don’t what?”

“I don’t know that you trust me.”

“Ni where is this coming from?”

“I just―I don’t know I feel like―like part of you isn’t here, that you don’t trust me enough or something, like you’re holding back.”

“Ni that’s crazy” I said sitting down on the bed next to him and rubbing his back. “I trust you more than anyone else, always have.”

“You sure?”

“Remember when we were five and we were playing on the jungle gym and I got to the top and was suddenly terrified and I wouldn’t come down?”

“Vaguely why?”

“Don’t you remember? My dad was trying to coax me down and I still wouldn’t move. So you climbed up to the top with me and said we could do it together and suddenly I wasn’t scared anymore, you held my hand the whole way down.”

“What does this have to do with now?”

“Ni, I didn’t trust my dad to keep me safe but I trusted you! I trusted you with my life then just as I do now. You have nothing to worry about.” I reassured. 

“OK. I’m sorry I brought it up.” He said as he pulled me into his side and wrapped his arms around me and placed a kiss on the top of my head.

“Feel better now?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

*Niall’s POV*

“Feel better now?” She asked.

“Yeah.” I lied.

I mean I guess I felt a little better hearing her say that she trusted me, but I still couldn’t get the conversation I had overheard out of my head. She washiding something from me; I knew it for a fact. Why would she keep something from me if she trusted me completely? I did my best to push the thoughts out of my head knowing I wouldn’t get an answer and we went downstairs to finish our movie marathon. We watched Beauty and the Beat and were about halfway through Pocahontas when she started falling asleep. She made it through the movie and I had to convince her to go to bed afterward. We climbed into bed and she clung to me tightly getting as close to me as she possibly could, just as she had while we were watching the movies. I think I scared her when I brought up her not trusting me.

The next day Kat and Emily decided to have a girl’s day so I hung out with the guys. We hung out at the house for a little bit playing video game and just chatting. It was getting around noon when we decided to go out for some lunch and at the restaurant the conversation turned from mindless chit chat to more personal in depth conversations. Harry was grilled about his relationship with Emily and I was really hoping that they wouldn’t ask me about Kat because I honestly had no idea what to say. Unfortunately in an attempt to get the focus off of him Harry asked how Kat and I were doing. 

“Great. Everything’s great.” I lied as I did my best to smile through my doubts.

“Did you two have your first fight or something?” Louis asked. Damn why did he have to be so intuitive?

“No I just told you everything’s great.”

“If everything was great you’d be bouncing off the walls telling us every little detail that made you happy, but you’re not so spill.” Liam stated matter of factly. 

“It’s nothing. I’m pretty sure I’m overreacting anyway.”

“Then why don’t you talk it out with us, it might help you” Harry suggested.

“OK fine.”

I proceeded to tell them about the conversation I had overheard as well as the one I had with Kat. The boys just sat there and listened as I poured out all of my insecurities and fears and voiced every concern running through my head. Everyone offered their opinions most of which included a “you need to talk to her” and the only one who hadn’t was Harry, he just sat there quietly.

“I dunno, Harry what do you think you’re awfully quiet.” I asked. He stayed quiet for a few seconds.

“Look. I’m sure it was not her intention to make you feel this way she just wanted to protect herself and she took it a little too far. Just talk to her and tell her everything you told us just now. Just don’t get angry. Stay calm.”

“Harry what do you know?” Louis asked.

“More than I should” Harry mumbled under his breath, but I still heard it. Anger surged through me. Harry knew? HARRY KNEW? It was one thing for my mum to know but HARRY? She barely knew Harry? Why would Harry know and not me? I was so furious I saw white. I threw a wad of cash down on the table figuring it would be enough to pay for my meal and stormed out to go find Kat. I stormed into the house and slammed the door behind me to mad to care about anything other than getting answers. 

“Kat!” I yelled harshly.

“In the kitchen! Jeeze Niall calm down!” she called.

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” I shouted as I whipped into the kitchen. Emily was there too but I couldn’t care less right now.

“You’re keeping something from me and I want to know what it is! And don’t lie to me I heard you talking to my mum the other night! And then today I find out that Harry knows whatever it is that you won’t tell me! And I’m guessing that if Harry knows then Emily knows too! What the hell Kat! Emily knows Harry knows my mum knows! Everyone seems to know but me! And I’m your boyfriend! Now what are you not telling me?”

She just stared at me a few seconds taking deep breaths with a clenched jaw. I could tell she was mad but I was too mad myself to care. 

“Niall,” she said calmly and quietly. Shit I really screwed up; I was suddenly regretting everything I had just said. Kat liked to argue and when she did she yelled it made her feel better to yell it made her feel heard, but when she got really really mad she would just be quiet and calm, like it is right before a huge storm rolls in. “First of all I do not have to tell you anything you do not own me. Secondly, just because you are my boyfriend does not mean I have to tell you everything, it’s my life not yours. Thirdly Emily already knew and it is not my fault if she told Harry when I specifically told her not to. However I am not going to have this conversation with you while you’re like this. You can come find me when you’ve calmed down” and with that she walked out the front door with Emily. 

A few hours passed by before I finally came to my senses and realized that I had no right to act the way I did. She was right it was her life, if she didn’t want to tell me something she wasn’t obligated to, and it’s not like she lied to me. I figured she probably went to the hotel with Emily and I got in my car to go apologize. I walked into the hotel and up to Harry’s room before urgently knocking on the door. Harry answered.

“Niall I―” he started but I didn’t really care what he had to say, I just need to see Kat.

“Is Kat here?” I asked as I pushed my way through the door.

“No. she was…for a little while…but she said she needed time to think and left.” Emily replied somberly.

“Do you know where she went?”

“No. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. Thanks anyway.” I walked out of their hotel room and drove back to my house. I had no idea where she would have gone. I guess I would just have to wait until she decided to come home.


	8. Forgiveness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning: some smut if you don’t like it then don’t read that part

*Niall’s POV*

I sat on the couch drowning my sorrows in beer and leftovers while I watched TV. I wasn’t really paying attention to the TV though, I didn’t even know what was on; I think it was some sort of infomercial. Greg sauntered in from the kitchen and saw me.

“Why are you watching an infomercial for hair removal cream?” he asked as he plopped down on the couch next to me.

“Huh? Oh I wasn’t really paying attention, here you can watch whatever” I said as I threw the remote to him.

“Are you feeling ok? Where’s Kat? She’ll make you better”

“Dunno. We had a fight. She walked out and no one knows where she went.”

“I’m sure if you put your little pity party on pause for a second you’d be able to figure out where she went.”

“Well I figured she went to Harry and Emily’s hotel room but by the time I got there she had already left.”

“Well where would she go around here?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” I replied with attitude.

“Well where did she go when she was ten?”

“Huh?”

“When you were ten, her parents were fighting and she ran away, when they realized she was gone everyone went looking for her but no one could find her and you’re the one that found her. Wherever that was maybe she went there again.”

“Greg I could kiss you right now!”

“Please don’t.”

I dashed out the door and didn’t even bother to grab my keys, I just ran as fast as I could to where I thought she might be. God I hoped she would be there. After about a 5 minute run I came across the lake everyone would go to in the summer. I followed the waterfront past the beach and over to the rocks that Kat was fascinated with when we were kids. When we were really little we would swim in the lake and when she got tired of swimming she would lay out on a particularly big rock and pretend she was a mermaid. Sure enough there she was sitting on the rocks, close enough to the water to be sprayed by the mist but far enough to not get soaked.

“Room for two?” I asked sheepishly as I approached her.

“Only if one isn’t a giant ass.” She replied clearly still upset with me.

“I figured I could find you here. It’s where you come to think.”

“The water calms me. Clears my mind.”

“Well I’m calm now and I realize that I had no right to demand anything from you and I’m willing to listen to whatever you have to say and I don’t even expect you to tell me what you won’t tell me because it is your life and I trust you to tell me things that I need to know and you don’t have to tell me anything else, especially if it doesn’t concern me and I’m really really sorry for flipping out earlier, I had no right.”

“It’s fine. But can you work on not being so possessive? It just really gets me.”

“I will do my best.”

“But like if we go out and some creepy guy won’t leave me alone then you can totally be as possessive as you want.” She laughed.

“Haha. OK.”

“I applied for a theatre studies program at the London Study Centre. That’s what I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Babe why not that’s exciting!” I said as I wrapped an arm around her.

“That’s why, because you would get excited and I didn’t want to get my hopes up because now Emily has her acceptance e-mail and I’m on a wait list, I only get to go if someone else can’t.”

“Well there’s still hope. I mean someone could drop out right?” I asked.

“I mean I guess but it’s unlikely.” She rebutted.

“You don’t know that people could drop out because they get sick or they get hurt or it’s too much money or…other reasons. Something could happen, don’t count yourself out yet.”

“OK.” She conceded. “Hey Ni?”

“Yeah?”

“Can we go home now? I just wanna cuddle.”

“Sure.” I responded as I stood up and extended my hand to help her up.

We walked home in a comfortable silence with Kat pressed firmly into my side and my arm wrapped around her waist. When we got home we went directly upstairs to just lie in bed and cuddle. She snuggled into my side and rested her head on my chest and all was right with the world again. This time I was the one that gripped her tightly, not wanting to let her go. 

The next morning I woke up and Kat wasn’t pressed up against me. I flung my arms out to her side of the bed, only to be met with empty sheets. I pried open my eyes to confirm my discovery and sure enough Kat was nowhere to be found. I jumped out of bed and threw on a shirt before rushing out of my bedroom to go find her. I found her in the kitchen making breakfast with my mum complete with bacon, eggs, pancakes and hash browns.

“What’s all this?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Ni you’re up! Guess what guess what guess what!” Kat yelled excitedly as she ran over and kissed me quickly.

“What what what?” I replied quickly mocking her childishness. 

She picked up her phone from the counter and began reading, “We are pleased to inform you that a position has become available in our theatre studies program and you have been removed from the waitlist and into the program. Congratulations and we look forward to seeing you in the fall!!!” she squealed out the last part and jumped up and down.

“Babe that’s great!! I take it this is a celebration breakfast?”

“Yeah but go put on some pants because the boys and Emily are coming over to celebrate with us!”

“Ugh gosh so demanding.” I scoffed as I ran upstairs to throw on some sweats. 

We hung out with the boys all day, we showed them around Mullingar for a little bit and then chilled at the house for a while. We decided to go out to the pub and have a little fun for the night with the excuse of celebrating for Emily and Kat. We were a few rounds in and I could tell Kat wasn’t really into it, she just looked exhausted. 

“We don’t have to say here ya know. We can just go home if you want to.” I told her offering her a way out. She just nodded so I took her by the hand and led her out of the pub. We went home and changed into our pajamas, me in my boxers and her in an old t-shirt of mine, and cuddled in bed for a while before a thought struck me.

“Where will you live?” I asked.

“Huh?” she replied sleepily.

“Like do you live in dorms or like with a host family or like what? How does that work?” I asked curiously.

“Well I’m going through ISA and they have several options I just have to choose one. This program offers dorms but I can also stay with a host family or in a house with other exchange students, or I can just find my own housing.”

“Well what would you think about moving in with me then?”

“What!?” she shot up; all evidence of being tired vanished.

“No pressure or anything I was just thinking if you’re gonna be in London why not stay with me?”

*Kat’s POV*

My thoughts raced there were so many reasons why we shouldn’t while at the same time there weren’t really any at all. It just freaked me out a little.

“Niall we haven’t even slept together!” I finally mustered up.

“We sleep together all the time!” he smiled cheekily.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. You know what I mean!”

“Babe why does that even matter I’m not asking you to have sex with me I’m asking you to move in with me and let’s face it we’ve been living together since we were five!”

“Niall that is so not the same thing!”

“How so?”

“I―uh―it―”

“See you can’t even come up with an answer you’re freaking out over nothing.”

“I just…” I trailed off.

“Look there’s no pressure or anything you don’t have to say yes I will completely understand if you say no, but before you just discount my offer know that it wouldn’t change anything between us and I only offered because I love you and want to spend as much time as possible with you.”

“You what?”

“I want to spend as much time as possible with you.”

“No no before that.”

“I love you?” He asked raising his eyebrows.

“Yeah that.” I replied dumbstruck.

“Kat I thought that went without saying! I’ve loved you since we were kids! But if I have to say it I will! I love you!”

I was slightly shocked by his words but I wasn’t sure why, he was right it should have gone without saying. I straddled him and kissed him passionately before pulling away after a few moments. “I love you too!” I said before kissing him again. Our kiss soon turned into something hungrier and eager as our hands roamed each other’s bodies. His hands snaked under my shirt and I helped him take it off, leaving me topless in front of him, I hadn’t been wearing a bra.

“We don’t have to…” he started.

“I know.” I replied as I grinded my hips into his now throbbing erection.

He flipped us over so he was in control, hovering over me lying on my back.

“Have you ever?”

“No.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. I was slightly nervous knowing that he was well experienced and I well…wasn’t. But when he kissed me all of my fears vanished. His mouth moved from my lips and made its way down my neck leaving small love bites here and there. When he reached my breasts he swirled his tongue around my nipple and flicked over it a few times while pinching and rolling the other with his rough calloused fingers. When he was satisfied that one had received enough attention he quickly moved to the other giving it the same treatment. When he was done with my breasts he trailed sloppy wet kisses down my stomach stopping when his face was right in front of my sex.

“You’re sure this is okay?” he asked, not wanting to push me too far. I merely nodded while I panted heavily, unable to form a proper response.

He slowly and teasingly pulled my black lace boy short panties down my legs and threw them to the floor. I gasped as he blew hot air on my clit before he attached his lips to it sucking hard, earning a moan from me.

“Shh babe.”

“You’re mom is at poker night and Greg went to see Vanessa so don’t tell me to shh.”

He chuckled at my exasperation which sent vibrations threw me making a moan escape from my lips again. I nuzzled my fingers in his hair and spread my legs wider as he brought his index finger to my entrance and lightly teased it. I whimpered at his teasing and bucked my hips down needing more; he got the hint and shoved his finger inside of me while I gasped at the contact. He pumped in and out of me slowly and easily as his lips continued their assault on my clit.

“Ni” I whined breathlessly.

He knew what I was asking for and slowly eased another finger inside of me. It was slightly uncomfortable but it wasn’t painful yet. He started up the pace he had before easing in and out of me, making slight scissoring motions to open me up. He quickly curled his fingers hitting the bundle of nerves inside of me sending me into euphoria, moaning loudly and arching my back off the mattress. I could feel Niall smirk against my core knowing he found what he was looking for. He slowly pulled his fingers out and added a third to stretch me more. This time it was slightly painful and I winced a little, but the pain vanished as he curled his fingers hitting that spot again. He brought his lips to mine kissing me passionately and my hands trailed down his toned chest. I hooked my thumbs in the waist band of his boxers and yanked them down as far as I could and he kicked them to the floor. My eyes widened at his size and Niall noticed my shock.

“Like I said we don’t have to.”

“Niall I swear to god if you ask me one more time!”

“OK OK m’sorry.” He mumbled against my neck.

I grabbed a hold of his shaft and pumped him a few times before letting out a pleading, “Ni.” He got the hint and removed his fingers from me before lining up at my entrance. 

“If it hurts too much just tell me to stop and I will.” He stated reassuringly.

I just nodded and he slowly started to ease into me. He was just past the tip when pain shot through my body and I scrunched up my face. His hand came up to mine and entwined our fingers for support. “I’m so sorry.” He whispered in my ear.

“It’s fine just go Ni”

“I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“It’s just gonna hurt more like this just do it all at once, like ripping off a band-aid.” I reassured.

“Okay…” he said hesitantly before he quickly slid into me until his hips were flush with mine. I screamed out in pain and a tear slid down my cheek. Niall kissed it away before capturing my lips in an apologetic kiss. Slowly I adjusted to his size and the pain disappeared into mild discomfort. 

“m-move,” I said shakily.

“You sure?”

I just nodded and he began to slowly thrust his hips into me. It wasn’t painful anymore but it wasn’t exactly pleasurable yet. He shifted my hips around trying to get a better angle. When he pulled them up slightly he found my g-spot again making me writhe beneath him.

“Oh god, Ni, there, oh,” I moaned out breathlessly between pants.

He picked up his pace and thrust into me relentlessly bringing me closer to my climax. After a while I felt the familiar sensation boiling in the pit of my stomach.

“Ni, Ni, I’m close,” I panted.

“I know baby, me too, just let go.” He replied as he brought his thumb down to rub my clit, which sent me over the edge crying out his name. As I clenched around him his thrusts became sloppier and soon I felt him twitch inside of me releasing his load as he grunted into the crook of my neck. He pulled out slowly and flopped down on the bed next to me, breathing heavily as he came down from his high. He pulled me into him and held me tight as his breathing evened out. “I love you.” He whispered as he placed a kiss to my forehead. 

“I love you too.” I replied as I drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it’s so long the first part was really hard to write but once I got on a roll I kinda got carried away. let me know what you guys think. As always feedback is welcome


	9. The Announcements

*Kat’s POV*

I woke up the next morning…well more like afternoon…with Niall’s steady heartbeat still in my ear, our legs tangled together, and the sheets thrown carelessly around the bed. My eyes fluttered open and I looked up, meeting Niall’s icy blue eyes, which weren’t as sleep dazed as mine.

“Morning” I mumbled.

“Mornin” he replied as a crooked smile overtook his lips.

“How long have you been up?”

“About an hour.”

“Well why didn’t you wake me!?”

“I couldn’t! You looked too peaceful.”

“So what you just laid here and watched me sleep?”

“Pretty much.”

“Creeper.” I replied sarcastically. He just laughed. “Can we just lie in bed all day?” I asked.

“As long as we are sufficiently stocked on food and movies then yes.”

“As if I would ever let you go hungry!”

“Oh please! You would let me starve if it meant more food for you!”

“Yeah you’re probably right!”

“Ok you get the movies I’ll get the food!”

“Deal! Just make sure there’s enough for the both of us.”

We pried our bodies apart and rolled out of bed. He threw on a pair of boxers before he ran downstairs to take anything and everything that looked good from the kitchen. I was slower moving, a little sore from last night, but I waddled to my bag and threw on some booty shorts and a tank top since it was too hot to be drowning in Niall’s clothes. I hopped down the stairs and into the living room to pick out our movies for the day. As I was sitting on the floor pulling out movies I saw Niall run upstairs with an armful of junk food before heading back to the kitchen for more. I decided we would have an old school movie day with movies like Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink. I had about twelve movies in my hand and I knew we wouldn’t get through all of them but I couldn’t decide which ones to get rid of because I loved them all. 

“God Niall have enough food? We’re having a movie day not preparing for the apocalypse.”

“Oh shut up you know you’ll eat like half of it!”

I shrugged and laid my movies down on the dresser next to the TV. I decided to watch Breakfast Club first and cued it up while Niall situated the food around the bed for easy access, favorite foods closest and the least favorite farthest away. I slid the DVD in and grabbed the remote crawling into bed next to him and cuddling into his side. We were at the end of our second movie, Pretty Woman, when Niall looked down at me.

“You never answered my question last night!” he exclaimed.

“Which question?” I asked honestly forgetting about it.

“About moving in with me in London.”

“Oh.” I replied as I recalled our discussion. “I mean, I guess, why not?”

“Gosh Kat calm down no need to sound so enthusiastic!” he countered sarcastically.

“Well how do you want me to respond? OH MY GOSH NIALL YES THIS IS SUCH A HUGE STEP FOR US I CANT BELIEVE IT!” I mocked. “Like you said we’ve practically been living together since we were five.”

“Well excuse me! Last night you had nothing but objections and hesitations.”

“Eh, I really only had the one and it kinda flew out the window after last night.”

“You never cease to amaze me!” he sighed.

“Wonderful now shh you’re making me miss my favorite part.” I said swatting him lightly on the chest.

3 short days later and it was our last day in Mullingar, Emily’s and my vacation was over and the boys had to go back to London to start working on their new album. As much as I would have loved to accompany Ni back to London I unfortunately had some loose ends to wrap up in the states, luckily it would only take about a week. Maura insisted that she make us a going away dinner, but we were free to do what we pleased for lunch so we took Emily and the boys to our favorite hole in the wall diner. 

“OK OK I have an announcement!” Emily stated after everyone had placed their order and the waitress left.

“OK OK! What is your announcement?” I mocked.

“Harry and I are moving in together!!” she squealed out quickly.

“You bitches!” I respond sassily.

“What?” Harry asked innocently.

“You totally just stole our thunder!” I retorted.

“No way!” Emily shouted.

“Yes way!” I squealed back

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! I can’t believe it!”

“I know right!”

“Wait what’s going on? I’m sufficiently confused.” Zayn asked looking like a lost puppy.

“Kat and I are moving in together as well.” Niall chuckled out.

“Really? That’s great! I’m happy for you!” Liam congratulated. “Both of you!” he added nodding towards Harry.

*Niall’s POV*

After Emily’s and Harry’s announcement Kat and Emily checked out of the conversation. They were too busy gushing over everything they wanted to do in London together. They discussed everything from seeing Big Ben and having lunch together every Saturday to what classes they’re going to take in the fall. I kind of checked out of the conversation too. I was entranced with how excited Kat was. It was a rare form for her; she never got her hopes up, or got excited about anything. She was let down a lot as a kid. Her dad would tell her he would do something with her and never end up doing it. I remember her sitting on her front porch waiting for her dad to pick her up and her mom trying desperately to get her to do something else. But Kat was stubborn and couldn’t be convinced to leave her post and by dinner time she would sulk into my house and I’d have to pick up the pieces of her broken heart. After a while she learned her lesson and stopped waiting on the porch, now her philosophy was “don’t get your hopes up, if your hopes aren’t up then they can’t be let down.” Seeing her excited like this, about moving in with me, was a wakeup call as to how much she really did trust me, I can’t believe I ever doubted that.

“What?” Kat snapped me out of my thoughts and looked at me with confusion and delight on her face.

“Nothing. You’re just really pretty when you smile.” I replied simply through a smile of my own.

“Okay…” she responded skeptically. “You ready to go?” she asked.

“Yeah yeah! Back to the house or somewhere else?”

“Back to the house! I want to do laundry before I head back so that’s not on my list of a million and one things to do when I get back.”

“Fine by me. I’ll enjoy watching you act like a housewife.” I teased.

“Well don’t get used to it ‘cause I won’t be anyone’s housewife!” she quipped. 

“Oh I know that’s why I’ll enjoying watching it now!”

“Just as long as long as we’re on the same page!”

“Don’t worry. The only things I expect from you are sarcasm and sass!”

“Good! Because those, I am more than willing to give to you.”

*Kat’s POV*

When we got back to the house I immediately ran upstairs and changed into an old t-shirt and sweats of Niall’s. I walked around the room picking up the dirty clothes that Niall just left scattered around the floor and threw them in the hamper along with my clothes. I figured if I’m going to be doing laundry anyways I might as well do his too, since he definitely wouldn’t do it. I heaved the hamper downstairs and quickly threw in a load of laundry before heading to the living room to find Niall.

“Wearing my clothes again I see tsk tsk.” Niall chided teasingly.

“All mine are in the laundry!” I returned innocently as I walked towards him on the couch.

“I’m just teasing it’s fine. I like you in my clothes. It’s sexy.” He ascertained as he yanked me onto him and met me with a kiss. 

His soft supple lips moved hungrily against mine and his tongue slipped out to swipe my bottom lip begging for entrance. I was reluctant to comply but eventually gave in, melting under his touch and he entered my mouth forcefully, exploring every inch he possibly could. His one hand rested on my side, just under my breast as the other moved its way down my back and firmly cupped my ass. He gave it a slight squeeze as his lips pulled away from mine and attached to my neck sucking hard in an effort to mark me as his own. 

“We can’t do this here.” I let out in a shaky breath.

“Who says?” He mumbled against my neck.

“Greg’s…”

“Greg’s gone.” He replied as he snaked his hand up the back of my shirt and lifted it over my head. He sat us up and attached his lips to my left breast and massaged the other with his giant hand. 

“Your mother could come home…” I countered desperately trying to sustain from his touch.

“She won’t be home for hours.” He pushed me down on the couch hovering over me and placed sweet gentle kisses to my collar bone. I tried to hold back the moan that lingered in my throat to no avail and let out a small whimper. “Just go with it princess.”

“O-okay.” I let out shakily as I finally gave in, unable to resist him any longer.

His thumbs hooked in the waistband of my sweats as he sucked hard on my neck. He started to slowly pull down my pants when we heard the distinctive thud of a car door slamming shut in the driveway. I threw Niall off me and scrambled for my shirt, managing to throw it on just before the front door opened and Maura walked in.

“You’re home early Ma.” Niall choked out suspiciously.

“Half day at work, just like every Friday.” Maura responded with a confused expression on her face.

“Oh…yeah, right…forgot it was Friday.” Niall spit out roughly.

Maura set her purse and keys down and walked past us into the kitchen. I looked at Niall and let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

“Oh and I know you two are adults and are going to have sex, and that’s fine, but please refrain from doing it on my couch.” Maura called from the kitchen.

Niall and I looked at each other wide eyed and blushed profusely. I leaped off the couch and ran upstairs and Niall followed closely behind. We bounded into his room and shut the door quickly, bursting into laughter the second the door shut.

“Oh my god I feel like a teenager who just got caught making out in the basement.” I laughed.

“Well I mean we kinda are except instead of the basement it was the living room.” He replied sitting at the edge of the bed.

“Oh my god that was so embarrassing.” I said as I sat down next to him and buried my face in his neck.

“Hey Kat?”

“Hmm?”

“We…um…we never…”

“Oh my god no! Not with your mother right downstairs.” I shot up standing in front of him and gave him a disapproving look.

“Please.” He asked with his best puppy dog face.

“No! Go take a cold shower or something!” he opened his mouth to say something else but I cut him off before he could, “and before you ask, no I will not join you!” I barked, and I walked out of his room defiantly to go check on my laundry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please please send me feedback, let me know what you think and how I’m doing!


	10. One Week

*Kat’s POV*

We got dressed in silence. We ate breakfast in silence. We drove to the airport…in silence. We went through security…in silence. We stopped for coffee…in silence. We walked to my gate…in silence. Neither one of us knew what to say. The only other time we ever said goodbye we lost touch for five years. Logically we knew this time wasn’t like that, but subconsciously was a different story. The universe had finally thrown us back together and we didn’t want to give it an opportunity to tear us apart again. My flight was much earlier than his but he still insisted that he take me to the airport. So we sat there…and waited…in silence.

“Flight 3701 Dublin to Miami will now begin boarding.” The flight attendant rang out over the intercom signaling that it was time to finally say goodbye.

“That’s me,” I say meekly squeezing Niall’s hand and standing up.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he pouted as he stood up with me.

“I know but it’s only for a week, we spent five years without each other I think we can manage five days.”

“Exactly! We wasted five years apart we shouldn’t waste any more time apart! I don’t want to lose you again.”

“Ni, it is one week and then I will be living with you, you’re acting like I’m leaving for a year and going somewhere with no outside contact! You can manage five days without me! What do you think it’s gonna be like when you go on your next tour?”

“I dunno but I don’t wanna think about that! I just want to take you to London with me and hold you and never let go!”

“Ni, I have to go back to the states, pack up my stuff…”

“We can hire movers for that you don’t have to be present.”

“Notify my job and take care of some things at school…”

“E-mails are a wonderful way of communicating.”

“Niall! There are some things I have to do in person! As much as I would love to, I cannot go straight to London with you!”

“Fine.”

“Niall you are making such a big deal out of this when you can call and text as much as you want, you know I never let my phone out of my sight.”

“Day or night?”

“Day or night.”

“You won’t get mad at me?”

“I won’t get mad at you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“OK!” he answered finally content with me leaving. He pulled me in for a kiss that was cut short by the flight attendant making another announcement.

“Final boarding call for flight 3701 Dublin to Miami.”

“Niall I really have to go now!” I said as I pulled away from the kiss.

“OK OK.” He said as he pecked my lips one more time before releasing his hold on me.

I walked away and handed the flight attendant my boarding pass and entering the tunnel to get on the plane. I found my seat and got settled and when I pulled my phone out I saw that I already had a message from Niall.

Niall: miss you already princess :) have a nice flight!

I quickly replied before turning my phone off.

Miss you too but I have to turn my phone off now so the scary flight attendant that’s yelling at people doesn’t yell at me! Love you :)

I waited for the message to send and then quickly turned off my phone and threw it in my purse, which I discarded under the seat in front of me. Ten minutes into the flight and I could tell it was going to be awful. Two women yammering on about nothing rather loudly in front of me, a screaming baby off to me left and the incessant meowing of a cat somewhere behind me. I didn’t even have Emily to share in my misery because she had gone straight to London with the boys. She opted for movers to take care of everything and didn’t have to settle things at work like I did. The second the pilot said we could use “electronic devices” a lunged for my iPod and put in my headphones blaring the volume trying to drown out the background noise. Before long I drifted off to sleep. I was extremely tired, seeing as my flight left at 4 am and we had to leave his house by 2 I never went to sleep. I guess I was more tired than I thought because it felt like I was asleep for less than ten minutes when the flight attendant was shaking me awake.

“Ma’am, you’ll have to put your iPod away, we’re about to land.”

“Yeah ok,” I replied groggily, as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

Five minutes later we were on the ground and moving to our gate. The pilot came on the intercom with the normal blurb thank you for flying with us, we hope you choose us again, the current local time is, the current temperature, blah blah blah. I was used to it; I flew a lot as a kid. I lived in Ireland and had relatives in the states. Even living in the states my mom lived in Michigan, my dad lived in Florida and my grandparents lived in California. I was on a plane at least twice a year usually more. We pulled up to the tunnel and the doors opened. I waited for almost everyone else to get off before I even stood up. I wasn’t in a rush it was 11 o’clock in the morning but I wasn’t going to get anything other than sleeping done tonight. I stepped off the plane and into the tunnel, instantly strangled by the oppressive humid air only finding relief when I stepped out of the tunnel and into the air conditioned terminal. I didn’t bring a bag with me, I sent it straight to London figuring I had clothes here, so I bypassed baggage claim and once I was through customs I booked it outside to grab a taxi. I flagged one down quickly and hopped in the leather upholstered garbage can on wheels and gave the cabbie my address. 

“Here we are!” he said as he pulled up in front of my apartment building. “That’ll be $25.16”

I handed him $30 and called it a day I didn’t feel like wrestling for change and I didn’t have any singles on me. As I swung open the door to my apartment I felt drained, like I couldn’t possibly do anything that required any effort on my part. I kicked my shoes off dropped my purse and plopped on the couch falling asleep almost instantly, not even bothering to turn my phone back on. 

I woke up the next morning and immediately kicked my ass into gear. I turned my phone back on and plugged it in to charge while I hopped in the shower. When I got out I dressed in work appropriate clothes, business casual with a little fashion-y flare, and checked my phone before leaving. I saw I had missed a text from Niall last night.

Niall: ok babe just let me know when you get home safe :)

Shit! He was probably out of his wits wondering what happened to me and if I was ok.

Sorry babe forgot to turn my phone back on! But I’m fine, home in one piece g2g 2 work though wnt be able to txt much.

I went into work to finish up some paper work. I worked for a fashion magazine that had a branch in London so I was able to just transfer to the London office, which was nice I loved my job and I definitely didn’t want to give it up. Part of me also wanted to keep my job just so that I wasn’t reliant on Niall, even though I knew that more than likely nothing would go wrong in our relationship, I still wanted to be independent in case something did, I wanted to be able to support myself if something unforeseeable happened, I also didn’t want to be a leech and take advantage of Niall. 

At work I had to train the girl who would be replacing me which was surprisingly difficult. She was enthusiastic, but she had no idea what anything was and I kept having to repeat myself. If she didn’t learn to retain what people told her then she would be eaten alive, especially in the fashion industry. Luckily my boss decided to go home at lunch which meant I got to leave then also. I picked up Indian food on the way home and ordered way too much figuring I could eat it for a few days. 

After I ate lunch I decided to start with the packing. I really only needed to pack clothes and the bathroom since Niall had everything else. I packed up the bathroom first putting all of my makeup and hair products into two different make up boxes, leaving out the toiletry bag I had brought with me to Ireland. I walked the makeup boxes into my room and set them on the bed as I pulled out my three suitcases from the top shelf in my closet. I opened the biggest and threw them in planning on filling the rest of the suitcase with shoes. I moved to my closet and picked out my outfits for the rest of the week and set them aside so I wouldn’t pack them. I sorted my closet into summer and winter clothes throwing half of each into the suitcases and the other half into boxes, that way if either the suitcases or the boxes got lost I would still have clothes. By the time I was done I had three suitcases and two boxes that contained my wardrobe, jewelry, and makeup, the only things I really needed to take with me. I would only be in London for a year, that’s how long the program was, I didn’t know what would happen after that. Would I stay in London or go back to the states? Realistically no matter where I lived Niall would always be halfway around the world so did it really matter where I lived? I needed to get out of my own head so I took the boxes down to the post office to be shipped to Niall’s flat which cost a pretty penny so I decided to tease Niall a little bit.

$200 to move in with you! U sure are an expensive boyfriend!

Niall: but you love me ;)

I beginning to reconsider

Niall: fine by me im sure one of the fans would love to take ur place

Hey now!

Niall: srry im just teasin babe

I no love ya

Niall: love u too

The rest of the week went by quickly and before long it was Friday. I had an afternoon flight so that I could take care of the apartment before I left. I had packed up the rest of the apartment throwing things haphazardly into boxes only taking care with delicate or meaningful items. Basically if it was in the same room it was in the same cluster of boxes. I hired a moving company to move my things into storage and I made sure to pay for 12 months upfront so I didn’t have to worry about it when I was in London. Technically I would only be gone for 9 months but you never know what might happen. By the end of the day I was getting on a plane to London.

See you in 9 hours babe! :) cant wait to see u!

I didn’t wait for a reply before I turned my phone off and sat back waiting for the plane to take off. Excitement boiled in the pit of my stomach as the plane started to move, it finally hit me: I was moving in with Niall!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know how im doing as always feedback is always welcome


	11. Misunderstandings

*Kat’s POV*

The flight wasn’t bad just uncomfortable since I was actually dressed and not in sweats. I figured since Niall was picking me up there would be paparazzi, or at least fans, but more than likely both, and I didn’t want to look like a dying walrus in any pictures that would be taken. When the plane finally landed the excitement boiled up in the pit of my stomach again. I felt like a teenager going on a first date, I didn’t know why I was so nervous, it was just Niall. But then again I did know why I was nervous, in London it wouldn’t be Niall little boy from next door, it would be Niall from one direction. People left us alone for the most part in Mullingar, just a few little girls coming up and asking for a picture shyly, I knew we probably wouldn’t have the same experience here. I got off the plane and walked into the terminal anxious to see him again. I stood on my tip toes and stretched my body as tall as I could to search through the mob of heads looking for the famous blonde quiff with dark roots; instead I got a dark haired man holding a sign with my name on it.   
“You’re not Niall.” I said resentfully as I walked up to him.

“No, I’m Paul.” The man responded.

“Oh.”

“Niall couldn’t make it so I’m here.”

“Clearly.”

I felt a little bad that I was being so rude to this poor man but Niall had said he would pick me up and I never thought for a second that wouldn’t be the case. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I followed Paul out of the terminal and went to make my way to baggage claim. 

“No no this way.” He said as he steered me towards the exit.

“But my bags…” I trailed off.

“Are taken care of.” He replied

“Oh…” I said meekly. I didn’t appreciate that. I didn’t like being taken care of, I liked doing things myself, and I definitely didn’t like other people handling my things. 

The drive to Niall’s apartment passed in near silence. Paul had tried to make conversation but I only gave him one word responses. Again, I should probably feel bad about being so rude but I couldn’t, I was too hurt.

“Here we are.” Paul chimed as we pulled up to the apartment building. He put the car in park and helped me bring my bags up to Niall’s flat. He plopped by bags down on the floor and put my key on the counter. 

“Bedrooms are upstairs and there’s a bathroom and a laundry room just down the hall.” He pointed out helpfully. 

“Thanks.” I muttered.

I half expected to see Niall when we got to his flat; I figured he was doing something here that prevented him from being at the airport. But once again my mind was wrong, the flat was empty. I couldn’t help but feel sadness in the pit of my stomach, empty in my own right, congruent with the flat. I wanted to hear him trampling down the stairs and his throaty laugh echo off the walls, but all I got was silence. 

I decided to look around to occupy my time. From where I stood in the living room I could see the kitchen, separated by a breakfast bar so I decided to venture down the hallway. The first door was on the right; I opened it to reveal some coats and shoes of Niall’s. I took a few more steps and came to two doors on my left, the first was the laundry room Paul had mentioned and the second was a linen closet. There was one more door at the end of the hall that opened to reveal bathroom, no shower though, just a sink and a toilet. 

I roamed up stairs and found a bathroom, with a shower, another linen closet and Niall’s room, or I guess our room now? But the last door I opened was the guest bedroom, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to see the boxes I had sent. The boxes and suitcase with my things that I sent over were sitting on the bed in the guest bedroom. The guest bedroom? More disappointment surged through me and tears began to stream down my face. I backed up against the door and sunk to the floor, pulling my knees to my chest and cried. This day was awful and it was only noon. 

After about an hour of crying I decided to leave my pity party and get shit done; crying wasn’t going to get me anywhere. I went back down stairs and wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat. I rummaged through the cupboards and fridge to only come to the conclusion that Niall had absolutely nothing, other than junk food and beer. It was worse than a frat house kitchen. So I fixed my hair and makeup and went grocery shopping. I picked up everything I would need for chicken parmesan, it’s what Niall and I tried to make only to give us food poisoning when we were ten; however I had since mastered my cooking skills…no food poisoning for us this time! A few hours later dinner was almost ready and I heard the door unlocking, opening, and then clicking shut. 

“Babe I’m so sorry I got held up, but I brought you…” he trailed off holding up a bag of take out as he saw me cooking. I turned the stove off and turned around to face him, resting my hands on the counter. “…and you made dinner and now I feel like even more of an ass.” He finished. 

“Its fine.” I replied emotionless.

“No its not. You’re mad.” He replied.

“no.” I stated.

“Yes you are. You’re quiet. When you’re quiet you’re mad.”

“No actually I’m not; mad is not one of the emotions that passed through my mind today. Confusion, disappointment, annoyance, more disappointment, hurt; all of those emotions I’ve experienced today, but never anger.” I replied coldly. 

“Babe I’m really sorry, I got caught up at the studio and…” he started to explain himself but I cut him off.

“Why are my things in the guest bedroom?”

“What?” he asked confused at the turn in the conversation. 

“My things. They’re in the guest bedroom.”

“That’s what you’re mad about?”

“Once again I’m not mad.”

“Babe I only put your stuff there to get it out of the way, I figured you’d murder me if I tried to unpack it, I know how you have a system for everything.” He explained as he came around behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “You really thought I would put you in the guest bedroom?”

“I didn’t know what to think Ni!” I whined “I really thought you would be at the airport to pick me up.”

“Again I’m so sorry I just got caught up and I when I realized I couldn’t make it I asked Paul to pick you up.”

“Yeah I think I was kinda rude to him.” I said as I turned around in his arms to face him.

“Eh. He’ll get over it.”

“That was probably the worst part of my day. I expect other people not to follow through on what they say; I never expected you to do the same; it’s never been that way.”

“I’m really really sorry, you have no idea.”

“It’s fine.” I offered.

“Did you just sit here all day?” he asked.

“Sort of.”

“Why didn’t you call Emily and do something?”

“At first I wallowed. Then I walked around the flat…saw my stuff and cried for like an hour…decided to drown my sorrows in food but realized you didn’t have any, so I went shopping then cooked and now here we are.”

“I cannot express how sorry I am.”

“It’s fine. C’mon dinner’s ready.” I said nudging him towards the stove. 

“Oh god chicken? Are you sure we should be eating this? ‘Cause we have the takeout. I think that would be safer.” He joked.

“Ha ha but I have learned how to cook since we were ten!”

“I don’t know I think you might be trying to poison me, you were upset when you made this.”

“Yeah but I made it for me, you just happened to show up. Now put the takeout in the fridge, grab a plate and shut up.”

“0 to bossy in point five seconds.”

As I fixed myself a plate he snuck up behind me and enveloped me in a hug. “I love you.” He declared and kissed me on the cheek. Suddenly it was like all of my problems from earlier had never even existed and everything was back to normal; all smiles and rainbows.

“Promise me something?” I asked as I handed him the plate I just made and sent him to the table.

“Anything.” He confirmed.

“Promise me that we won’t lose this.”

“Lose what?” he inquired.

“All of this, the hugs, the love, the talking through our problems like calm rational adults, especially that. I don’t want to be my parents.” I clarified.

“Course not.” He smiled and pulled me into his side and kissed my temple. “I finally won over my princess and you can bet your ass I’m not ever doing anything to screw that up.”

“Good.” I smiled and we sat down to eat. 

Dinner passed by in silence, neither of us speaking as we shoveled our mouths full of food. It wasn’t an awkward silence though, just a content silence, nothing needing any saying. When we were finished we cleaned up in the same manner we always had in the Horan household. Niall washing the dishes as I dried them and put them away, I didn’t like to wash dishes, I was a bit of a germaphobe and the idea of touching someone else’s spit covered fork seriously grossed me out, I clean my own but I will not clean someone else’s.

“I take it you didn’t unpack then?” Niall ventured as we dried the last of the dishes.

“No I didn’t know where to put my things.” I answered

“Ya know, had you opened the closet you would have seen more than half of it cleared for your clothes, dresser too.”

“Yeah well, clearly I wasn’t in a very rational state of mind.”

“Clearly.” He smirked. “Do you want me to help you?”

“Can we do it tomorrow? I’m just tired and I had a bad day and I just wanna cuddle.”

“Sure thing babe.”

It was still kind of early so we cuddled on the couch and he put on some mindless TV show I couldn’t find the energy to actually watch and in a few minutes I was fast asleep breathing in Niall’s scent. He didn’t move me though; he knew I needed him more than sleep. A few hours later I felt him stand up and slip his arm under my knees and carry me upstairs. He placed me in bed and started to walk away.

“Ni…” I whined groggily.

“Shh princess. I’m just goin to the toilet; I’ll be right back I promise.” He responded. I just whined again and waited for him to come back. When he did he slipped in next to me and pulled me as close to him as possible. Every inch of our bodies pressed together, our legs intertwined, our breathing synchronized. This felt right, this was exactly where I was supposed to be, this was exactly how everything was supposed to be


	12. Mystery Solved

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Smutty part (kind of) at beginning; possibly inaccurate medical advice (sorry I’m not a doctor and i didn’t feel like researching anything)

*Kat’s POV*

I woke up feeling my head rest on something much too soft for my liking, I would much rather prefer Niall’s shoulder than the pillow I currently occupied. I rolled over on my back and my eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the new amount of light. I could hear movement downstairs and a phone ringing so I jumped out of bed and didn’t even bother to throw pants on; Niall’s shirt came to about my mid-thigh. I walked downstairs and found Niall rummaging through the pantry with his phone pressed to his ear listening intently. 

I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my chest to his back. However I got no reaction from him, apparently his phone conversation and the food he was looking for was more important than I was, and I wasn’t having any of that. So I reached my hand down a little lower to palm him through his jeans. I could tell it affected him even through the thick material because he spun around quickly and glared at me. I just smirked. 

“Yeah Harry that sounds great.” He emphasized the sentence in an effort to stop my teasing, but I was in a playful mood and his glaring only egged me on.

I slowly lowered to my knees, never breaking eye contact. He just glared at me as if to say ‘not right now.’ But I ignored it and reached up to unbutton his pants. He tried to flick my hands away, but at the moment I was stronger than him, he was too far gone, blood rushing to his cock and still trying to focus on his conversation. I pulled his pants and boxers down in one swift motion and was met with his hardening member. I wrapped my hand around his shaft and gave him a few pumps before flattening my tongue against him, running it from the base all the way to the tip.

“Yeah, I―uh―I think she’d uh―like that.”

He was trying desperately to stay coherent enough to continue his conversation with Harry, and I was trying desperately to ruin that plan, and it looked like I was winning this fight. 

I stopped to pay attention to the sensitive head, flicking my tongue over and around it, placing small teasing kisses on the top before blowing air onto it. Niall sucked in his breath and bit his bottom lip as I began to slowly take him into my mouth. Just as he started talking to Harry again I took all of him down my throat.

“Yeah- she uh-she just got up- I’ll ask her.”

I bobbed my head up and down as fast as I could sucking him hard, trying to bring him to the edge.

“Kat―” he started shakily, I looked up to him and moaned around his cock in response. He took in a deep breath and shook a little as he did. “Harry and Emily want to know if we’ll go to lunch with them.”

I moaned around him again, sending vibrations through his body, in my best attempt to say yes. I could tell he was close because he was scrunching his eyes closed and biting his bottom lip. I bobbed my head faster and sucked him harder trying to get him there, preferably before he hung up the phone.

“Yupp. OK. See ya.” He spat out roughly, and clicked the end call button and dropped the phone on the counter as he let out cry as he came. I continued to suck him through his orgasm as he twitched in my mouth. When he was finally done I swallowed all of it and pulled off with a wet pop, kitten licking the last little drop off the head before I stood up and kissed him roughly. 

“Morning” I smiled triumphantly giggling.

“Morning,” he panted as he pulled up his pants and tried to even out his breathing. “That was not funny.” He said as he pulled me closer to him.

“Eh, I dunno, it was pretty funny to me!” I beamed.

“Never. Again.” he scolded.

“Oh please! Don’t act like you didn’t love every second of it.” I teased.

“Go get dressed we’re meeting Harry and Emily in twenty minutes.” He said as he turned me around and slapped my bum.

“You mean you’re not even gonna return the favor?” I feigned offense.

“Oh don’t you worry! You’ll get yours tonight!”

The look of lust in his eyes sent a shiver through my body. Oh, tonight was gonna be a real treat.

We met Harry and Em at a little café in the middle of the city that you wouldn’t really notice unless you were looking for it. For the most part Harry and Niall had their own conversation while Em and I had one of our own. Em and I mostly talked about what we were planning on doing at school and how it’s been living with Harry. She returned the favor and asked me what it was like living with Niall even though I had only spent one night with him. It was nice having lunch with them, but after awhile I started feeling woozy and just wanted to go lie down. I didn’t want to ruin the fun we were having so I just kept quiet about it, and when I got dizzy and stumbled when I stood up, I lied and said that I tripped. 

They had decided to go shopping and I had no objections, my stomach and my head did, but I ignored them. After a few hours of walking around in the heat, exhaustion started to hit me, but for whatever reason I didn’t say anything, I guess I wanted to believe I was fine. I was sitting outside the fitting rooms waiting for Em to come out in a dress she wanted to try on.

“What do you think?” she asked twirling around.

“It’s nice” I mustered up.

“Should I get it?”

“I would” I stated definitively.

“Ok let me just change and then I’ll go pay for it.”

“Great” I sighed to myself in relief. I really just wanted to lie down and maybe take a nap.

She came out of the dressing room and I stood up to walk with her to the register, only I never really made it to a standing position. As quickly as I could blink I collapsed to the floor in a heap with a loud thud.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed with an IV sticking out of my arm.

“Hey” Niall cooed softly, “you’re awake.”

“What happened?” I asked confused. “Why did I faint?”

“That’s probably a question for the doctor not me, I’ll go get him. I brought you clothes to change into if you want” he motioned to a pile of folded clothes on the chair on the other side of my hospital bed.

I trudged out of bed and changed into his sweats feeling much more comfortable than I had in the stiff polyester hospital gown. I laid back down in the stiff bent up hospital bed as I waited for him to return with the doctor. I stared at the ceiling wondering what had happened, what was wrong enough for me to pass out?

“Hello Kat, I’m Doctor Grimm.” The tall man with dark brown hair and a scruffy face greeted as he walked in the room.

“Hi, what happened? What’s wrong with me?”

“Niall, if you wouldn’t mind―” he began.

“No no, its fine he can stay, just tell me what’s wrong.” I pleaded.

“You were slightly dehydrated and overheated, we gave you fluids to help, that’s what the IV is for. Now normally your body wouldn’t have reacted so severely, however you’re about three weeks pregnant so your body kind of overreacted trying to save its energy to protect the baby.”

“you’re―you’re pregnant?” Niall stuttered, out of shock more than anything “You’re pregnant?” Niall beamed as it finally sank in and he came to terms with it, he looked like a kid on Christmas morning, he didn’t catch it, but I did.

“Babe this is amazing…” Niall started.

“Ni,” I said softly, trying to cut him off, but it fell on deaf ears.

“I know this wasn’t planned or anything but―”

“Niall!” I screamed, finally getting his attention.

“What?” he asked with slight fear and hurt in his voice.

“Niall we had sex a week ago.” I reminded

“Yeah I know I was there, what about it?”

“Niall he said I was three weeks pregnant.” I saw his heart shatter in his face as he realized the baby wasn’t his.

“But I thought you said…”

“I did”

“Then how…”

“Three weeks ago I was waking up on a bus bench in Mullingar with no memory of the night before.”

“You don’t think that…”

“I can drink twice my weight in liquor but I have no memory of that night, none. Emily even said that there was a creepy guy trying to follow me out of the bar.”

“So you were raped?”

“Well I guess I finally know what happened that night.” I replied dismally in a vain attempt at humor, but there was no humor in this situation.

“Well how do you feel now?”

“I don’t really know, I mean it’s over and done with there no use to dwell on it, especially since I can’t even remember it.”

“How does this make you feel about the baby?” he asked cautiously.

“I don’t really know. I don’t know how I would feel if the baby was yours, the fact that it’s some stranger’s just adds a whole new level of complicated to it.”

“Do you have any idea what you want to do?”

“No. Not really…”

“Well whatever you decided I’ll support.” Niall squeezed my hand lovingly twice.

“I just want to go home and rest. I need some time to think.”

“OK. I’ll go see what I can do about getting you out of here…but in the meantime Harry and Emily are waiting to see you if you’re up for it.”

“Yeah that’s fine.” I half-heartedly smiled.

Niall left the room and a few minutes later Harry and Emily slowly entered.

“Hey girl, how are you feeling?” Em asked.

“Better.” I lied, I actually felt worse, nausea and headaches I could deal with, a baby with a mystery/rapist father, I could not.

“What happened?” Harry asked genuinely concerned

“Dehydration and heat exhaustion.” I replied. It wasn’t technically a lie, but it wasn’t technically the truth either.

“OK well we’ll let you get some rest; we just wanted to make sure you were OK.” Emily said as she and Harry moved their way towards the door.

“OK thanks,” I replied. And with that they left.

I was just starting to doze off to sleep when Niall came back in.

“Hey princess,” he cooed, “ready to go home?”

I simply nodded too tired to find the strength to use words if they weren’t necessary. A nurse came in and detached me from the IV and Niall came in behind them and scooped me up, setting me down in a wheelchair. He wheeled me down to the lobby and when we got to the doors everything seemed louder, like there were more people. When he rolled me through the doors I could see flashes from every direction and I knew that it was probably the paparazzi, but I was too tired to care. I was even too worn out to put on a smile, which was something I always did when the cameras came out. They didn’t really bother me, I only noticed them because it’s my job to, and after three years of working the same job, I guess I can’t turn it off. 

I must have dozed off again, the excitement of the day getting to me, because the next thing I knew Niall was scooping me out of the car and carrying me in the apartment. He made it upstairs and laid me in bed. He moved around to the end of the bed to take off my shoes and I pawed at the sweats around my hips, suddenly feeling to hot and uncomfortable to stay in them. Once they were off I finally felt comfortable again and I sank into the bed and pulled the covers over me. I faintly saw Niall’s shadowy figure headed toward the door.

“Ni…” I whined. I got really whiney and cranky when I was sick or hurt. Luckily for me, Niall learned to put up with it a long time ago.

“Yes princess?”

“Stay? Please?”

“Of course princess.” He said as he crawled into bed next to me and held me in his arms.

I felt tiny with his massive arms wrapped around me, but it wasn’t in an intimidating way, I felt safe, like he could protect me from anything. Too bad he wasn’t around three weeks ago to protect me from the creep at the bar. But that’s not his fault, and I know that, I’m just frustrated that I couldn’t remember anything. And now I was pregnant with a baby I didn’t even remember making, and I had no idea what I was going to do. But for now I pushed those thoughts aside and let sleep wash over me, maybe it would clear my mind.


	13. The Nightmare

*Niall’s POV*

I laid there with her, cradling her in my arms. My grip was tight, protective. I didn’t want anyone coming near her, to hurt her. I felt angry, hurt, even a little guilty. It was anger I felt the most though. How could someone do this to her? I wanted to punch something, scream at someone, anything to make me feel better. It broke my heart that someone hurt her like that, even more so that I couldn’t stop it. I wanted nothing more than to be able to protect her. I always have, that’s why I always begged her to be the princess when we played, so that I could pretend to be the knight in shining armor that saved her and protected her from the evil witch, or in her case the evil warlock. I couldn’t save her when we were ten because I was only ten, but now, I was older and I had all the resources in the world at my fingertips and I still let her down; there was no excuse for that. 

She was fast asleep in my arms, but I was wide awake, it was only 3 in the afternoon when we got home but she was tired, and who can blame her? So I laid there with her while I processed my thoughts. I was starting to get hungry but I wasn’t going to leave her, she asked me not to, which meant I wasn’t leaving her side come hell or high water. I already failed her once; it wasn’t going to happen again. So I decided to distract my stomach with my thoughts.

She was pregnant. Each time I thought about it I had to let it sink in. I had been thrilled at the hospital, when I thought the baby was mine. Well at first I was shocked, but then I thought about how cute a little girl with Kat’s big brown eyes and her tiny little smile and I melted. I know we’re young but in all honesty we could handle a baby. Kat could probably even manage to work, go to school and take care of the baby, she was always doing a million things to keep herself busy, it wouldn’t be that much different from her everyday life. Financially speaking we were fine, and that wasn’t even including Kat’s salary, I didn’t know how much she made but judging by the amount of Louis Vuitton I’ve seen her wear, I’m guessing she was pretty well off, not to mention her dad was horrible with money so she swore she would be better with hers.

There weren’t really any practical objections to the baby just emotional ones. I guess I wouldn’t really care that the baby isn’t mine, I could deal with that, it’s not like she cheated on me. Kat had all of the tough issues to deal with. She would be the one who had to carry a stranger’s child inside of her. If she could put up with that, then I could certainly get past the fact that the child wasn’t biologically mine, and Kat and I know better than anyone that biology doesn’t define a father. I don’t know why I was thinking about all of this, ultimately it was her decision, I would just be there to support whatever decision she made. It was about three hours later that she started to stir from her nap, her eyes prying open to look up at me.

“Fell better princess?” I asked

“A little. But I’m hungry now” she pouted.

“Thank god so am I. What do you want to eat? We still have the Chinese take out in the fridge.”

“Ugh! Dear god no, that sound disgusting.”

“I see the pregnancy symptoms are starting to kick in” I joked, “so what do you want to eat?”

“Hmm. Pancakes!”

“Blueberry or chocolate chip?”

“Both!”

“I love you” I chuckled.

“I love you too.” She mumbled into my chest.

“OK well when you finally get off me I will go start your pancakes.”

“OK OK. I’m getting up. I’m going to go take a shower.”

She rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom to start her shower. I wanted to make a cheeky comment about joining her, but I figured she probably wouldn’t appreciate it. So instead I got up and went to go make her pancakes.

*Kat’s POV*

I let the water wash over me hoping that it would give me some clarity. I think showers are the best place to think, and the best way to feel better. Letting the water wash away everything that brought you down, it’s therapeutic. I didn’t want to spend too much time in the shower though; I really wanted my pancakes, so I hurried up and got out quickly. I put some of Niall’s sweats on; I wasn’t planning on going anywhere else so I didn’t need to put clothes on. I walked downstairs just as Ni was piling the pancakes onto a plate and I sat down at the breakfast bar. 

“You’re pancakes M’Lady.” He said as he placed the plate in front of me.

“Why thank you kind sir.” I played along.

“So how are you feeling…honestly?”

“Honestly…the thing I feel the worst about…that I can’t get out of my head…is that I lied to you…I told you I was a virgin and I wasn’t.”

“OK first of all you didn’t lie, you were a virgin, there’s a difference between sex and rape. Second of all really…that’s what you choose to dwell on?”

“Hey now, no one said I was normal. You know me; I pick the stupid things to focus on.”

“Yeah to distract you from the big things.”

“You know me too well.”

“Best friends generally do.”

“I guess I just don’t know anything about anything in this situation.”

“Then talk it out that generally helps. I’m here to listen.”

“I just don’t know how I feel about carrying a stranger’s child; it feels, for lack of a better word, strange.”

“Would you not have the baby because of this strange feeling?”

“I don’t know. It’s something I can’t really explain. Like my body has this big secret and it won’t tell my brain. That sounds stupid sorry.”

“No that’s fine. I get it…kind of…”

“What else is going through your head?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready to be a mom…” I let out shyly.

“Well in my opinion you would be a great mom.”

“But I’m only 19 and I have so many plans that I haven’t gotten around to yet, I haven’t even finished school.”

“I think you could be a great mom, while still going to school and achieving your dreams.”

“Only by a miracle of God.”

“Aren’t you the one that told me anything is possible? I took that advice and look where I ended up.”

“Yeah but you weren’t raising a kid.”

“Fair enough.”

“Niall?”

“What?”

“How would you feel about this child? I saw your face light up when you heard I was pregnant and then shatter to a million pieces when you realized it wasn’t yours.”

“I was in shock. I don’t think I would mind, it’s not like you cheated on me, and I love you so how could I not love a mini you?”

“Yeah but it’s not like you have any responsibility to this baby, and it’s not like we’re married you don’t really have a responsibility to me.”

“We may not be married, but I’ve waited 10 years to be with you and I don’t see myself going anywhere.”

“Why do you have to be so perfect?”

“I’m not perfect, I’m just lucky enough to have someone who loves me enough to look past my imperfections.”

“Anyways…”

“So did talking it out help?”

“A little. I’m still confused…but I’m less confused.”

“Well less confused is a start. We don’t have to make any decisions tonight.”

“I guess you’re right.”

I finished my plate of pancakes and Niall finished his. He cleaned up, insisting that I had been through enough for one day and I didn’t have to help him. I reluctantly agreed and sat down on the couch and waited for him. He walked into the living room and stopped to look at me.

“You look like you could use a good cry. Do you feel like crying?”

I just shrugged my shoulders not really knowing the answer to the question.

“How about we put in ‘A Walk to Remember’ and I give you my shoulder to cry on?”

“That sounds great” I nodded.

He put in the movie and I bawled my eyes out, staining his shirt in tears, and if I wasn’t mistaken I might have seen a few tears escape from his eyes. I loved how Niall knew by one look what I needed, and he knew exactly how to accomplish it. In my eyes he truly was perfect and I really hoped that he never left me. Logically I knew that he wouldn’t, that he wasn’t that type of person, but I had issues and everyone else had always left me, so naturally I was fearful that he would too. But I couldn’t worry about that right now, I had more important things to worry about, things that actually would happen and needed my undivided attention. When the movie ended it was around nine and even though I had taken an afternoon nap I was still tired and the crying only tired me out more.

“Can we go to bed now?” I asked looking into Niall’s soft blue eyes.

“Anything for you princess.”

We walked upstairs and climbed into bed and I fell asleep in his arms with my head on his chest, just like I always do. Halfway through the night I was away from Niall and I started to dream. It wasn’t really dreaming though it felt too real, and it was only in flashes. I was in an alley and there was a large shadowy human like figure. I was running away and I hit the ground hard, I felt the pain course through my body. Suddenly there were hands around my ankles dragging me along the ground, I tried to scream but nothing came out. I panicked and started to thrash about but it was no use the figure was too strong for me.

I woke up screaming and throwing the covers around. It took me a minute before I realized where I was. Niall shot up with me and held me tight cooing in my ear that it was just a dream and that everything was alright. But I knew better, it wasn’t a dream it felt to real, I think it was a memory…of my rape. I sat there in Niall’s arms and sobbed uncontrollably for what felt like hours, and he just held me, he knew that he couldn’t say anything to make it better and that I just needed to cry. When I finally stopped he asked me if I was okay.

“I think I feel better now yeah.”

“What were you dreaming about that was so awful, the only time I’ve seen you cry like that was over your dad.”

“I think I was dreaming about that night.”

“You remembered it?”

“Well no not exactly, I just felt the pain and the fear, and the longer I’m awake the fuzzier it gets.”

“Well that makes sense. When you’re dreaming everything’s in the subconscious, it remembers things you don’t.”

“Yeah I guess.”

“Do you need some water or something?”

“No no, I’m fine, let’s just go back to sleep.”

“As long as you’re OK.”

“I think I’ll be fine as long as you hold me.”

“I can do that” he chuckled.

I fell back asleep in his arms and felt safer knowing he was there for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think! I’m enjoying writing this and i hope you guys are enjoying reading it. as always feedback is welcome


	14. The Decision

*Niall’s POV* 

I woke up next to her, still gripping her tightly. I didn’t dare leave her. She was terrified last night. I didn’t want her feeling that way ever again. As long as she needed me I’d be there. She started to stir and she fluttered her eyes open to look at me. 

"Feel better" I asked. 

"In your arms, always" she sighed. 

"I’m so sorry" I muttered. 

"About what?" 

"That I wasn’t there to stop it." 

"Ni it’s not your fault. We weren’t talking then, you didn’t even know I was in Ireland! You can’t blame yourself; it was no one’s fault!" 

"I know I guess I just feel guilty, I never did anything when we were younger and I didn’t do anything now." 

"Ni, you couldn’t have helped me when we were younger, no one could’ve." 

"But I knew what was happening, you told me, I should’ve told someone." 

"Are you forgetting that you wanted to, the only reason you didn’t was because I asked you not to. I just wanted my mum to be happy." 

"I know but-"

"Ni, we were young, we didn’t have the common sense and good judgment we do now. My mother’s happiness was more important than my own so I didn’t want her to know what he was doing; I didn’t want to ruin her happiness." 

"Did it ever stop? When you moved to the states?" 

"Not until…not until he died." 

"He died!" 

"Yeah, he was hit by a drunk driver…and he was perfectly sober for once…I guess karma really is a bitch." 

"How did your mum take it?" 

"She decided after about a month that she couldn’t live without him and she killed herself on my fourteenth birthday." 

"Oh my god, I’m so sorry." I held her tighter. “What happened to you after that?" 

"I went into the foster system and lived in group homes mostly; I had a few families here and there." 

"Is that how you met Emily?" 

"No! God no! She doesn’t know! No one knows! I didn’t want people to treat me oddly and I didn’t want to dwell on it. You know me once I process something I put it behind me and it doesn’t need to be brought up again." 

"I’m so sort you had to go through that." 

"Another lesson learned I guess."

"Still…" I trailed off, unsure of what I was trying to say. 

"What are the plans for today?" she asked trying to change the subject.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I have to go in to the studio. Will you be ok?”

"Yeah I’ll be fine, I’ll call Emily up see if she wants to do something" she reassured, but I was still apprehensive. “I’ll be fine I promise!"

"OK. If you say so. But call me if you need anything."

"Course."

 

*Kat’s POV*

Niall got ready and headed to the studio, but I stayed in bed, I just wasn’t ready to get up yet. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to call Emily.

"Hey girl hey!"She answered.

"Hey, I was hoping you’d come over and help me unpack."

"You still haven’t unpacked yet?"

"Well let’s see, I got here and was mad at Ni, saw my stuff in the guest bedroom, freaked out, Ni came home and we slept, then I went to lunch with you and Harry, we went shopping, I passed out and was rushed to the hospital, then came home and slept again, so no…Not really."

"Oh. Well I’m going to level with you, I don’t really want to help you unpack, you’re quite mean when people try to help you."

"OK well how about you come over and keep me company, while I unpack and talk things out."

"What do you need to talk about?"

"There’s more to yesterday than you think I just wasn’t ready to talk about it, but I am now, so can you please just come over?"

"Yeah sure be there in ten."

Exactly ten minutes later she was knocking on the door. 

"Wow. Still in your pajamas, this must be pretty serious, should I have bought ice cream on the way over?"

"I mean I’m not there yet, but maybe later."

"OK so what’s up?"

We moved the boxes into Niall’s and my room and I began unpacking as I told her everything. 

"Wait, so do you think it was that creepy guy that was trying to follow you out of the bar?"

"I don’t know I still can’t remember anything, but quite honestly I don’t really care, it’s not like it matters, I can’t do anything about it and I have other things to focus on now."

"Do you have any idea what you’re going to do about the pregnancy?"

"Not really I’m still just really confused. Niall said he wouldn’t mind fathering it but I don’t really want to ask him to do that. And every time I think about being pregnant I just feel dirty, and disgusting, I highly doubt that’s how pregnancy is supposed to feel,"

"So are you saying you don’t want to have the baby?"

"I don’t know I have no idea what to even take into account; I don’t know what’s important and what’s trivial."

"Well then let’s simplify it, do you think you could handle going through this pregnancy? Knowing you were raped? I know you have some sort of underlying issues on the matter."

"How do you know that?"

"The way you get all fired up about the topic. I figured there was something you weren’t telling me, I just never pressed."

"Yeah uh…my mum’s boyfriend used to sexually abuse me."

"Did you ever tell anyone, when did it stop, did your mom know!?"

"Calm down. I told Ni when we were younger but I asked him not to tell anyone else, it stopped when he died, and no my mum never knew."

"Oh…so back to the original question. Do you think you could handle it, mentally, and emotionally, not just physically?"

I didn’t say anything. I just stared at my feet.

"I think that’s your answer." she said finally breaking the silence. 

"I think you’re right."

I finished unpacking and made sure everything had a place and was sufficiently organized. We moved downstairs to the living room to continue talking.

"So when do you go into work?"

"Well I was supposed to go in next Monday but I might push that back until I get this sorted out, or I could always work from home. It’s up to me really, the only person I report to is the owner of the company and she has a soft spot for me so I can pretty much do whatever I want."

"Ahh I see. Want to grab some lunch? I’m starving."

"Would you mind if we stayed in? I don’t really feel like going out."

"Sure that’s fine."

"We have some leftover Chinese, Niall bought it but I already had dinner made so we never ate it. Want some?"

"Pass me the chopsticks!"

Emily and I ate lunch and hung out some more but eventually she left to go home so that she could be there when Harry got home. I decided to start making dinner and it was ready just as Niall was walking in the door.

"Hey babe!" He greeted as he walked in the door.

"Hey! Dinner’s just about ready." I replied.

"You know for someone who swore I wouldn’t see her act like a housewife, you sure are doing a good job at having dinner ready when I get home."

"Oh shut up!"

"Did you have a good day with Emily?"

"Yeah, she came over and helped me unpack."

"Really? Did you honestly let her help you organize your things? Like really?"

"OK so she just came over and hung out while I did all of it! Just shut up and get some food." I said shoving a plate into his hand.

"I’m just teasing babe!"

"I know." I smiled.

"So what did you two do all day?"

"I mainly just unpacked and we talked."

"About what?" he asked as he piled food onto his plate.

"About the pregnancy."

"You told her?"

"Yeah, I still had some things to straighten out in my head and I thought that talking to her would help."

"Did it?"

"Yeah, a lot, she made me realize I already knew the answer."

"You made a decision?"

"Yeah…"

"What did you decide?" he asked setting his plate down and paying full attention to me.

"Ni, I don’t think I can do this, I can’t go through it, I can’t be pregnant this way, I’ll end up in a mental hospital…again." I whispered the last part, terrified of what his reaction might be.

"You were in a mental hospital?"

"Yeah…well the psych ward of a general hospital but yeah."

"Why?" he asked softly.

"After I lost my ‘parents’ everyone wanted me to get help, and I just refused to talk to anyone, they thought I was in shock or something and shipped me off."

He crossed the room and wrapped me in his arms just holding me for a moment.

"Ni?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you ok with this?

"The mental hospital or the abortion?"

"Both."

"Well with the mental hospital, I’ve known you since we were in diapers and I know that you’re not crazy, people just don’t understand how you work, but I do so no need to worry. With the abortion, I mean that’s really completely up to you, I don’t have a uterus and I don’t have to carry a baby for nine months so I shouldn’t really get an opinion on the matter."

"You’re too good for me."

"Yes I am now let’s eat."

I scoffed and playfully hit him as he walked away to get his plate and sat down at the table to eat. I followed suit and we ate, occasionally talking about how are days went. The night went on and we cuddled on the couch and watched TV in silence before deciding to head to bed. I climbed into bed next to Niall and made a mental note to make an appointment tomorrow before I drifted off to sleep.


	15. The Accident

*Kat’s POV*

I had gotten up and made the appointment the next morning. That was about a week ago. There was a knot in my stomach ever since so I had just been working from home. 99% of my job could be done with an Iphone or Ipad, and I had both specifically for that reason. Emily had agreed to take me since I wouldn’t be able to drive home afterwards. Which brings us to today. I sat in the waiting room of the clinic, nerves coursing through my body, and the knot in my stomach I had all week was only worse, but I attributed it to the fact that I was having surgery. Everything set me on edge. The echoing laughs of the small children, the piercing scream of the crying babies, the vexing rub of material as the mother bounced her child on her leg; I could even hear the clock on the wall ticking. I was hitting sensory overload quickly, and a few minutes later I had hit my breaking point.

"Emily we’re leaving." I stated abruptly as I shot out of my seat and headed for the door. I heard what I assumed to be her footsteps behind me but I didn’t look back, determined to get to the car and leave. I tried to block everything out to regain my thoughts. I stopped when I reached the parking lot, tears started to blur my vision as I finally had time to think, not because I made the wrong decision but because I almost had, I just couldn’t go through with what I was planning. I let the tears fall mercilessly as my body slightly shook. I think Emily might have been calling for me but I wasn’t paying attention, it sounded far away and I could barely hear it. The next thing I knew, everything was black. 

 

*Emily’s POV* 

I sat in the hospital waiting room terrified. The car had come out of nowhere, I tried to call her, to warn her, but I doubt she heard me. The car hit her dead on, sent her flying through the air; she landed about twenty feet from where she was hit. She was in surgery now and I was waiting for Harry and Niall. When they walked in Niall looked like a train wreck and I knew I had to keep it together for him, so I took a deep breath and shove my emotions aside for the time being. 

"Where is she? Can I see her? What happened?" He asked all at once never giving me time to answer. 

"She had some internal bleeding so they took her to surgery a little bit ago so right now all we can do is wait, the doctor will let us know when she gets out." I replied calmly. 

"How did this happen? I thought it was supposed to be a simple procedure, that’s what she told me this morning when I was nervous." 

"Niall she didn’t even get to the procedure. She was in the waiting room and I guess she changed her mind because she stood up and told me we were leaving." 

"Then how did she end up in the hospital?" He interrupted. 

"We were walking out to the car and she stepped off the sidewalk when this car came out of nowhere and slammed right into her." 

"I swear when I find out how did this to her…" 

"Niall it was an 86 year old man who had a heart attack while he was driving, I don’t really think it was his fault." 

"Oh" he replied sheepishly. 

"Why don’t you just sit down and I’ll go get you some coffee. If the doctor comes out tell him that your Kat’s fiancé." 

"Why?" 

"They don’t tell you anything unless you’re a family member. I told them I was her sister." 

"You lied to the doctor?" Harry gasped. 

"I never said I was her biological sister." I scoffed. 

Niall sat down and I went to the coffee machine. Harry followed behind me. 

"How are you holding up?" 

I collapsed into his arms. “There was so much blood." I sobbed. “Oh my god Harry there was so much blood." 

"Shh shh," he cooed “she’s going to be fine, she’s strong." 

I pulled myself together taking a few deep breaths and wiped my tears. “C’mon we should get back to Niall, make sure he’s OK." 

I grabbed the cup of coffee and headed back to Niall. We all sat in the waiting room in silence. No one needed to say anything, we all knew how the others felt and no one wanted to voice any less than hopeful thoughts they were having. After about two hours the doctor finally came out. 

"Miss Johnson," the doctor said to get my attention “she’s out of surgery and everything went fine, she should make a full recovery, miraculously, she has no broken bones but she does have a fractured collar bone so she’ll be in a sling for a few weeks." 

"What about the baby?" Niall asked. 

"There was no physical damage to her womb that we saw which is good. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing how the baby is going to react to the shock to her system or the drugs that were administered during surgery." 

"Can we see her?" Niall asked 

"Yes, she’s still sedated, but she should be waking up soon." 

We followed the doctor into her room and waited again in silence. 

*Niall’s POV*

I sat next to her hospital bed, my eyes never leaving her, she looked awful. The color was drained from her face, and she had a huge purple bruise on the side of it. Her arm was draped across her stomach, slumped in a sling and she just looked helpless. I felt helpless because I couldn’t do anything for her. I wanted so badly to make it all go away, turn back time or something; I hated seeing her like this. Her eyes started to flutter open and my heart practically leapt from my chest.

"Hey. How do you feel?" I cooed softly.

"Like I was hit by a truck."

"Well in all fairness you were hit by a truck." I half joked.

"Is the baby OK?" she asked rapidly as panic rushed over her face.

"Shh. the baby’s fine."

"Oh thank god." she breathed.

"Can I ask what happened? This morning you couldn’t wait to get it over with." I asked still whispering, as Emily and Harry were asleep in the corner.

"I don’t really know. I was sitting there and I just couldn’t go through with It." she said as she cast her gaze to the floor. “I’m sorry." she added, sounding ashamed.

"Baby its fine. You have nothing to apologize for, like I said it’s completely your decision, I’m just here to support you."

"Ni?"

"Hmm?"

"Can you hold me?"

"Course."

She sat up slightly and I climbed into the hospital bed with her, positioning myself behind her slightly and she laid back into me as I wrapped my arms around her tiny body. We sat there in silence until the doctor came in.

"Ms. Michelson, I’m glad to see your up. How do you feel?" the doctor asked.

"Tired and weak."

"Well that’s to be expected; you lost a lot of blood. You had some internal bleeding which we were able to fix with surgery however we did have to remove your appendix, it was too damaged to save and it was easier to just remove."

"And the baby?"

"The baby should be fine, a mother’s womb is designed to protect so there was no damage caused by the accident. We would like to keep you overnight for observation though since we had to perform surgery, you body has been through a lot today, we want to make sure it doesn’t go through anything else."

"OK Thanks."

"I’ll be back in a little bit to check on you."

He left the room and Kat groaned.

"What?" I chuckled.

"I don’t want to stay here." she whined. "It’s uncomfortable and smells funny and I hate hospitals and this hospital gown itches and I just want to go home and curl up on the couch and sleep and be comfortable." she complained.

"I can run to your flat and get you some things." Emily mumbled as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat upright. "Some sweats for you to change into, your laptop and some Disney movies ‘cause you know you’ll want to watch them and your Ipad so you can get some work done, because knowing you, you won’t even let getting hit by a truck stop you from going to work."

"If you wouldn’t mind." Kat responded.

"OK what do you want?"

"Some of Niall’s sweats, The Brave Little Toaster and Mulan. Please and thank you!"

"Ok I’ll be right back."

"I love how you told her to grab you a pair of my sweats." I laughed.

"I like your sweats." she stated simply.

"Yeah but they’re mine, not yours."

"Oh hush, you know you love it when I wear your clothes. And don’t try to deny it; I see that spark in your eyes when you see me put your clothes on."

"I know. I’m just messing’ with you."

Emily came back with supplies and even some food saying that she knew Kat would bitch about the sucky hospital food. Harry finally woke up while Kat was changing.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"You missed a lot while you were sleeping. Kat woke up the doctor came in and spoke with her, she has to stay here overnight, and Emily went out to get supplies from home and even brought back some food." I replied.

"Wow I just slept through everything didn’t I?"

"Pretty much."

Kat came back out and crawled into the bed and cuddled up to me again. Harry spoke with her a little and after insisting that she would be fine and that he and Emily could go home they finally left to get some sleep. It was probably three in the morning by now. After they had left she started up a conversation.

“Ni, I want to give you power of attorney in case anything happens to me.”

“Kat don’t talk like that, nothing is going to happen to you.”

“Really? Because I was hit by a car today, I was unconscious and had they needed permission for that surgery I wouldn’t have gotten it because I wouldn’t have been able to give permission and I have no next of kin. If you have power of attorney then you can do things like that. Plus if I’m ever in this position again you won’t be left in the dark because you’re not a family member.”

“OK.” I sighed, “I guess you’re right. It’s the responsible thing to do.”

“OK then we need to talk about a few things.”

“Like what?”

“Like if something happens and I need to be on life support, that’s fine if there’s a realistic possibility that I will recover and wake up. But if there’s no hope then don’t bother. I don’t want to be hooked up to a bunch of machines that aren’t going to do anything for me.”

“OK” I sighed in understanding.

“And if something happens and I die, I want my organs donated, if something terrible is going to happen to me I at least want something amazing to happen because of it.”

“Donate organs, got it!”

After our conversation she tried to convince me to go home and get some sleep but she gave up quickly realizing that I wasn’t going anywhere. She fell asleep in my arms and I held her close to me, a little shaken up that I almost lost her.


	16. The Phone Call

It had been 2 weeks since the accident. They had let me out of the hospital after a day of observation and I was finally starting to feel back to my normal self. Niall hadn’t let me out of bed for three days after I had come home. I wasn’t allowed to lift a finger. It didn’t really surprise me, when we were little and one of us would get sick the other would help take care of them. When I had finally convinced him that I could get out of bed he still insisted on helping me whenever he could, he wouldn’t even let me make dinner. I had finally started actually going in to work but everyone walked on eggshells around me and it kind of made me uncomfortable so I still worked from home often. 

I had gotten home from work before Niall today so I sat in the living room and flipped through channels on the TV while I waited for him to get home. I had a pretty awful day so I just wanted Niall to come home so I could cuddle him on the couch. After a few hours of mindlessly staring at the television I finally heard the low scrape of the key sliding into the lock and my head shot up to meet the door. 

 

Niall entered our flat and immediately walked over to me, placing a soft kiss on the top of my head. "Hey beautiful," he cooed, “How was your day?"

"Eh." I shrugged.

"Why just eh?"

"I just haven’t been feeling well today."

"Morning sickness?"

"Maybe…"

He let it go and walked over to the fridge to search for some food. As he walked back into the living room he noticed the little red blinking light that had ruined my day.

"Hey we have a message" he asserted, motioning to the answering machine.

"I’m aware" I replied, not bothering to even take my eyes off of the TV.

"OK…did you listen to it?" 

"Yupp. I was here when they left it."

"OK…What was it about?" 

I didn’t even bother acknowledging his question with an answer. I simply reached over the arm of the couch and flicked the button on the horrid machine to release the offending words. The loud screech of the answering machine clawed its way through the room and the hideous voice began its drunken tirade. 

"You little bitch," the voice slurred through the speakers, “You think you can just waltz back in here after all these years and nothing would happen? Think you can just live happily ever after with the pretty boy from next door? I told you that life doesn’t have fairy tale endings but I guess you never learned that lesson. You just wait, I’ll teach you. And this time you won’t forget!" the voice ended his rant with a growl.

The message ended and the machine screeched again leaving the room in silence. I still hadn’t moved from my position on the couch but my mood had changed drastically. Before I heard the message again I was simply irritated and out of sorts, but now I was raging mad again. Niall could probably tell how it had affected me. He still hadn’t said anything and I think he was frozen in place out of shock, the same way I had been when I had first heard the message. 

"Who the hell was that and how the hell did he even get my phone number?"

"The ‘father’ of the last foster home I was in. He probably just charmed your number out of someone.”

"Do you want to tell me what he was talking about?”

“He doesn’t like it when things are going good for anyone else. He has to be the center of attention and when he isn’t he bullies people out of what he sees as his spotlight.”

“Is he violent?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“On how much attention the person is getting.”

“Oh so we’re basically screwed.”

“Basically.”

“I’m calling Paul.”

"Niall no! You’re angry you don’t need to be making an important phone call right now you need to calm down first."

"You’re probably right." he sighed, sitting down on the couch next to me as he cradled his face in his hands. “It’s just…it shouldn’t be that easy for just anyone to get my phone number."

"I know, but he’s a charmer people trust him."

"That’s no excuse! Is he in London?"

"Does he live here? No. But I wouldn’t put it past him to come here to make my life hell.”

“Why is he so invested in you? It’s not like he has a responsibility to you anymore.”

“No but I kind of hurt his feelings when I got emancipated so he’s determined to teach me a lesson that I can’t run away from my problems.”

"I don’t want you going anywhere without security from now on."

"No. Absolutely not. I don’t need babysitters."

"Kat, he could dangerous."

"No Niall! I’m stronger than I was as a child I can handle a confrontation from him. I spent my time in his house afraid of him and I will not give him the satisfaction of showing fear again."

"But-"

"No. People like him prey on the weak. I’m not weak anymore and I won’t let him slap me around again."

"I just…all I can think about is the abundance of times that you came over to my house with bruises and burns."

"That’s not going to happen again."

"You don’t know that."

"Niall. He. Can. Not. Hurt. Me. No one can. Not anymore."

"I just want to protect you, and little Horan in there." He explained placing a hand on my stomach.

"Little Horan?"

"I just assumed…he doesn’t have to have my name if you don’t want…I just thought it would be nice."

"No that’s fine, if that’s what you want."

"I’d like him to have my name."

"Why do you think it’s a he?"

"I don’t think, I know."

"Oh really and how’s that."

"I have psychic abilities."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!" he laughed. "Ok go get all the blankets and pillows you can find."

"Blankets and pillows?"

"Well I figured that since that ass clearly ruined your day, we would do what we always did when you would come back from your dad’s house all emotionally wrecked, make a blanket fort and watch movies while we pig out on junk food."

"You’re the best."

"I know. Now go get all the supplies I’m gonna call Paul real quick."

He moved into the kitchen to make his phone call and I began my mission of scouring the house for anything to make a blanket fort. I found several blankets and pillows in the linen closet along with some in the guest bedroom closet. While I was there I figured I might as well take everything off the bed as well and then moved to our bedroom to do the same. I waddled my way back into the living room engulfed in my loot and Niall just laughed at me and called me stubborn for not wanting to make multiple trips. There was a lot of bickering over how to build our fort but there always was, Niall and I didn’t really work well together he likes to just do things, whereas I like to think them through first. Eventually we finished our fort and climbed in to watch movies. When we were done watching movies we still just laid there in silence cuddling.

“Were all of your foster homes like that?” he asked abruptly.

“The group homes weren’t that bad but group home is just a fancy name for orphanage. The foster families that I was placed in were generally bad.”

“Like on a scale of your mom’s house to your dad’s house.”

“It depended on the home. I was older so I wasn’t ever really looked at for the sexual abuse, but I was beaten pretty badly when I tried to stop it for the younger kids. Other houses only beat you if you did something you weren’t supposed to but I still got beaten for covering for the younger kids. The last home I was pretty much beaten every day, which is why I got a job and took GED classes, just so that I wouldn’t be at home so often.”

“You got your GED?”

“Yeah, I knew that if I got my GED and a well paying job I stood a chance at getting emancipated so that I didn’t have to live in that house anymore.”

“You are like the bravest and strongest person I know. I would be a broken mess if I went through half of the things you went through.”

“When bad things happen you have two options, you can either huddle in a corner and let it define you, or you can quit your crying and do something about it. I wasn’t about to give everyone who hurt me the satisfaction of breaking me.”

“Still…I admire how strong you are.”

“Yeah, but I probably wouldn’t have been able to get through my childhood without you and your family. If you guys weren’t there to show me what a family should be I would probably be in a much worse situation right now.”

“Please, we didn’t do anything…we could have…but we never did.”

“Niall, stop blaming yourself, you were between a rock and a hard place, and technically it’s not like you had any proof that my father was beating me, just bruises, and kids get bruises, and you definitely didn’t have any proof of what my step father was doing. Nothing you could have done would have helped; it would have just been explained away. At least you were there for me and gave me a place to stay to get away from it, that’s more than most people did.”

“But-“

“Niall, stop, you did more than enough.”

“Fine” he said with a sigh, dropping the subject.

“C’mon, let’s go to bed.”

“OK but Paul wants to talk to you tomorrow. He just needs to know what he should expect from this guy that’s threatening you. It’s not the usual 14 year old girl with an empty threat.”

“Fine, but I don’t want to think about it right now, we can deal with it in the morning, we don’t need to talk about it anymore tonight. I’m just tired and want to go to bed.”

“Of course. Bed time it is.”


	17. Impromptu Getaway

I woke up the next morning to Niall rustling around our room. I tried to ignore it and rolled over to go back to sleep. But it was useless, he was too loud and I was too awake to fall back asleep. I rolled over to look at the clock, which was a bad idea, it only made me crankier, it was 6:33 in the morning on a Friday, my day off. I sat up in bed to see Niall rummaging through our dresser; he looked confused and was oblivious to the fact that he had woke me up. 

“Niall, what the hell are you doing” I somewhat snapped.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to pack.” He said as he held up some jeans and a tank top of mine. 

“What do you mean pack? What are on about?”

“I figured we could use a vacation.”

“Niall, we just got back from a vacation.”

“Well yes about a month ago however, so much has been going on and we’ve dealt with so much that it feels more like a year ago so we are taking a long weekend to get away from everything and relax.”

“Where? When?”

“20 minutes.”

“But where?”

“Sorry, need to know, and you don’t. Get up and get packed. I tried but I probably failed.”

“But―”

“No buts, get up and get to work you can sleep in the car.”

He pecked me on the lips and I pouted in defeat. I wasn’t very spontaneous and I liked to be in control, he knew that but he constantly pushed me out of my comfort zone. It usually never turned out bad so I relinquished control and got up to fix the bag he packed. It was a mish mash of random clothing. He had everything from jeans and sweaters to flip flops and bikinis. He had no idea what he was doing but it was cute that he tried. I packed enough outfits for the days that we would be gone plus two extra just in case. I also threw in a sweater and some sweats in case I got cold. I ran into the bathroom to put together a travel toiletry kit, threw it in with the rest of my bag and headed downstairs.

“How did I do?” Niall asked referring to his attempt to pack for me.

“Miserably” I replied.

“Don’t spare my feelings or anything.” He scoffed.

“But A for effort babe. You tried.” I said patting him on the back.

“Did you pack extra outfits?”

“Always do.”

“Well not always.”

“Yeah and look what happened the ONE time I listened to all of you and only packed what I needed. I ended up covered in spaghetti sauce and nothing to change into.”

“You were so mad at everyone for convincing you to get rid of that last outfit.”

“Well yeah! Anyways, are you ready to go yet?”

“You’re not going to get dressed?”

“You said I could sleep in the car. Why would I get dressed?”

“Well ok then.”

We loaded up his car with our bags and got on the road. I fell asleep shortly after we got on the highway, it was still like 7 in the morning and I was not prepared to stay up. I woke up a few hours later and we were still on the highway.

“How much longer?” I asked.

“Few more hours babe.”

I sighed and took over the radio, hooking up my IPod and put on a road trip playlist, songs like highway to hell, lost highway, and drive my car. It took awhile for Niall to catch on.

“Have a sense of humor today do we?” He asked when he noticed the theme.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I always have a sense of humor.”

“Well that’s debatable.”

“Hey now!”

“I’m just teasing babe! I love you.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, love you too.”

We finally got off the highway and drove through back country roads for about another hour. We finally pulled up to a small cabin right on a lake. 

“So it looks remote but there’s a store about a mile up the road with anything you’d ever need, there’s hot water and air conditioning, there’s a fire pit in the back if we want to have a campfire and the water comes right up to the backyard.” He explained as we got out.

“So it’s like my version of camping.” I responded excitedly. 

“The fact that you see this as camping is sad.”

“I don’t like dirt or bugs or really just nature in general. It’s great to enjoy from a distance but I don’t want to get up close and personal with it.”

He just laughed and went inside shaking his head. We went inside and found the bedroom to drop off our bags. 

“So what do you want to do?” He asked

“Well…” I started as I walked over to him; I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately, “I had a few ideas…”

“Oh yeah?”

“Uh-huh” I nodded.

“Like what?”

“Like…maybe some…carnal activities.”

“Carnal activities?” He laughed.

“Poke fun all you want but keep in mind I don’t necessarily need you.” I chirped as I walked into the bathroom.

“Wait what?”

“You heard me!” I called from inside the bathroom.

“I’m sorry! I love you! I didn’t mean it in a bad way.” He called through the door.

“Yeah that’s right, start backtracking.” I stayed in the bathroom for about ten minutes readying myself.

“Babe…” he called out gingerly.

“Yes” I said opening the door in my best lingerie. It was a black corset with red lace detailing hooked up to black thigh highs. 

Niall’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw me. I ignored him and walked straight past him and into the bedroom. I was digging through my bag next to the bed and I could feel his confusion behind me.

“What are you doing?” he finally asked.

“I told you,” I said getting up holding my pink vibrator and situating myself on the bed, “I don’t need you to take care of myself.”

I started to rub circles on my clit while sucking on the vibrator teasingly, never breaking eye contact with him. I heard him whine as I lowered the vibrator to my core and ran it up and down my folds. He stood at the end of the bed slightly slumped and defeated. I flicked on the toy and pressed it to my clit letting out a long moan.

“Baaabe” he whined.

“What do you want Niall?”

“I want to join you.” He said like a sad little boy being left out on the playground.

“I never said you couldn’t.” I replied calmly.

He practically leaped onto the bed ripping off his shirt and jeans in the process. He climbed over to me and leaned down to kiss me.

“Ah ah ah. I said you could join me, I didn’t say you could touch me.”

He muttered under his breath as he rolled off of me and onto his side of the bed, he folded his arms across his chest in protest and let out a loud huff. After a few more minutes of my teasing and he was whining again.

“Babe pleease.”

“Please what Niall?”

“I want to help you.”

“See, I don’t think you want to help me Niall. I think you want me to help you. Would you say that’s about right Niall?”

“Fine! Yes that’s right! Please babe.”

“Fine” I sighed “I’ll help you,” I said as I straddled him, “But you still don’t get to touch, understand?”

“But-“

“Niall…” I warned.

“Fine no touching.” He conceded.

I began rolling my hips into his to continue teasing him a bit. I started kissing down his chest and body before I stopped right above the hem of his boxers to give it a little snap. He jumped and I chuckled. I slowly removed his boxers and climbed back up to position his member before my face. I took it in my hand and applied small kisses along the shaft. I looked up to see his eyes shut and his breath ragged, it was all the encouragement I needed to continue. I placed a long lick from the base to the head of his dick and rolled my tongue around the head, which was starting to leak pre-cum that I quickly lapped up. Satisfied that I had teased him enough I took all of him down my throat in one quick motion. I bobbed my head up and down as quickly as I could, working past my gag reflex. After a few minutes I felt the muscles in his stomach start to tense and his breathing become quicker when I pulled off, much to his disappointment. But he wasn’t disappointed for long as I climbed up his body to straddle him again. I guided him to my entrance and sank down until my hips were flush with his. He let out a low moan which encouraged me to continue. I quickly found a rhythm of bouncing up and down on his dick while rolling my hips into him when I came down. His breathing became quicker and I felt him tense up again signaling he was close. I continued to bounce as I felt him twitch inside me and release his load. When he finally started to come down I climbed off of him and laid in bed next to him. A few moments passed in silence as he caught his breath.

“Where the hell did you learn to do that.” He let out in staggered breaths.

“Cruel intentions” I stated matter of factly.

“You are crazy and I love you.”

“What’s that saying…Birds of a feather flock together?”

“Touché”

“So, now that that’s out of the way what do you want to do now?” I asked.

“What do you mean out of the way? You never came; we still have to take care of you.”

“Niall, I’m pregnant. My sexual senses are on overdrive I came like four or five times, you just didn’t notice.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Good because I’m kind of tired and I could really go for a nap.”

“Then nap time it is. Let me just change first.”

I fished out a shirt of his to sleep in and quickly changed into it before crawling back into bed with him. Even though he was almost asleep he still had enough energy to pull me in as close as possible. I loved that he did that, like he couldn’t get close enough to me. Although, pretty soon I wouldn’t be able to be so close, my belly would be so distended that it would prevent me from cuddling him the way I do now. We would have to spoon like normal couples, and that though didn’t appeal to me. I preferred to be nuzzled into his side and rest my head on his shoulder or chest, to be able to drink in his scent and listen to his heartbeat as I fell asleep. Pretty soon everything in our lives would be turned upside down, and the thought terrified me. I still wasn’t sure that I was ready to be a mom. I didn’t exactly have the best role models as parents and I really don’t want to make the same mistakes they did. Not to mention that half the time I’d practically be a single parent. Sure Niall would be a great father and help out with everything when he was home, but the fact is, he spends a lot of his time on the road, and when he’s gone I don’t really have anyone else to help me. My mother and step father are dead, my father is god knows where, not that I would want him around my child anyway, I have no other family and all of Niall’s family is in Ireland. When Niall goes on tour I’ll be all on my own, and that terrifies me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry nothing really happened in this chapter but I kind of just needed a filler. Let me know what you guys think of the story so far! As always feedback is welcome


	18. Nurse Niall

When I woke up Niall was still asleep but I didn’t really want to leave him. Instead I just snuggled in closer to him and closed my eyes trying to fall back asleep. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before he woke up too. Groaning, he stretched out his body and then pulled me in closer sighing.

“Hi!” I cooed as I lifted my gaze to meet his ocean blue eyes.

“Hi” he chuckled, “What time is it?”

“Do I look like a time keeper? I have no idea there isn’t a clock within my view and I think my phone is still in the car.”

“Phone! I almost forgot we have to talk to Paul today!”

“Way to go Niall!”

“Hey now! You didn’t remember either!”

“I’m not the one who scheduled it! When are we supposed to call him?” As soon as the words left my mouth the xylophone like music rang out, disturbing the quiet of the cabin.

“I’m guessing now” he said as he rolled me over to slide out of bed and find his phone. “Hello?” he answered before turning it on speaker.

“Niall! You were supposed to call ten minutes ago! What happened?” Paul’s voice crackled through the second rate speakers on the phone. 

“Sorry, we were napping.” Niall answered.

“Oh ok. Go get Kat so I can ask her a few questions.” Paul said.

“I’m right here” I chimed.

“Tell me about this guy that’s threatening you.”

“David Miller he’s like 55ish and a jackass.”

“How violent is he?”

“When he’s sober not generally but when he’s drunk he can get pretty violent yeah.”

“How often does he get drunk?”

“Almost every night.”

“Does he live nearby?”

“No he lives in the states.”

“Is there any way he could get to London?”

“Probably not, he can’t afford anything that costs more than 10 dollars and his priority is to keep beer in the fridge. Whether or not he thinks ‘teaching me a lesson’ is more important than his beer is anyone’s guess.”

“Did his phone call worry you?”

“No but I think it worried Niall.”

“Damn right it worried me!” Niall piped in, “he threatened you.”

“But he’s a bully not a member of the Russian army.” I responded

“The Russian army? How is that even a reference? Like where did that come from?” Niall said making fun of me.

“Because it made sense in my head! Don’t make fun of me!”

“I’ll make fun of you all I want you make fun of me all the time!”

“Right so anyway,” Paul started to get our attention back “Niall I don’t think you have anything to worry about but Kat if you hear from him again let me know.”

“Will do! I chimed

“Thanks Paul!” Niall

We said our goodbyes and hung up with Paul.

“I should probably go take a shower” Niall sighed.

“Yeah…you’re kinda starting to smell” I teased.

“Ugh! You are so rude” he laughed.

“I never said I wasn’t.”

He just laughed. “I love you!”

“Love you too! Now go take your shower and I’ll make us some lunch.”

“How’d I get lucky enough to find a woman who keeps me fed?”

“I keep myself fed you just happen to tag along!”

“Oh I see so you couldn’t really care less if I eat or not?”

“Nope! Not one bit!” I laughed, “What do you want on your sandwich?”

“Surprise me!”

Niall went to the bathroom to take a shower and meandered into the kitchen to find something to make sandwiches with. I opened the fridge and saw that it was packed full of food, which didn’t really surprise me, Niall probably requested it; he never went anywhere for extended periods of time if there wasn’t the promise of food. By the time I was done making lunch Niall was sneaking up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Looks great babe!”

“Good! Where do you want to eat?”

“In bed?”

“Fine but if you get crumbs in bed you can clean it up!”

“I’ll be extra careful promise!”

“Ok fine! Take your sandwich and March yourself to the bedroom!”

“You sound like my mum when I was little!”

I gasped. “How dare you!” I shouted as I yanked his plate away from him before he could grab it.

“What!?”

“Comparing me to your mother? Really!?”

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way!”

“I don’t care! I don’t want to be compared to your mother!”

“But I didn’t mean it like that I love my mum” he pouted.

“I love your mum too but I don’t want you to compare me to her! No girl wants to be compared to their boyfriend’s mother!”

“But-“

“Niall apologize or I will eat your sandwich and you can make your own!”

“I’m sorry babe!”

“Fine.” I sighed, “I accept your apology.”

He pecked me on the lips and took his plate before we headed into the bedroom. I got situated and wrestled with pillows and blankets while Niall searched around for the remote. 

“What do you want to watch?”

“Doesn’t matter to me. I’m not picky.”

“Really?” he asked in a skeptical manner. “So I could put on a football match and that would be fine with you?”

“Yeah.” He still eyed me as if he didn’t believe me and then turned on the football match he had been asking about.

I watched the game with him cuddled into his side and no complaints. Of course I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was but I didn’t mind watching it. When the team he was rooting for scored he cheered and turned to me abruptly.

“So do I get a kiss every time we score?” he asked with a smirk.

“hmmm. Depends. What do I get out of it?”

“Hmmm. How about if you give me a kiss for every score then I’ll give you an orgasm for every point later tonight?”

“What if I don’t want to have sex tonight?” He just stared at me blankly. “Yeah ok, that sounds like a good deal.” I laughed and pecked him on the lips. “Please don’t take what I’m about to do as a reaction to what we just did.”

He looked at me confused as I got up and ran into the bathroom to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet. As soon as Niall heard my awful retching he was in the bathroom with me holding my hair and rubbing my back.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked when I finally stopped and caught my breath.

“Not really, you’re not the one with morning sickness.”

“I guess baby Horan doesn’t like ham and cheese sandwiches.”

“Haha I guess not!”

“Come on, let’s get you back in bed” Niall cooed as he helped me up off the floor and walked me into the bedroom. “You just lie down and get comfortable; I’m going to get you a glass of water yeah?”

“Yeah ok, thanks.” I sniffed, my sinuses still wrecked from getting sick.

He came back with a glass of water and handed it to me. “Is there anything else I can get you, some soup maybe?”

“Niall you can’t cook to save your life!”

“No but I can open a can and put some soup in the microwave!”

“Barely” I scoffed.

“True, but I am willing to put forth maximum effort for you.”

“Why thank you! But do we even have soup here?”

“That’s a good question but if we don’t I can go get some.”

“I don’t really want soup, but some ice cream might be nice.”

“Let me guess. Cherry Garcia?”

“Yeah…” I replied sheepishly.

“Ok I’ll go get it.” He left the room for a few seconds and came back with the small tub and a spoon.

“There was some here?”

“I asked for it. I know how much you love ice cream and that Cherry Garcia is your favorite so I asked the owner to make sure there was some in the freezer.”

“You’re so good to me.”

“Always have been baby girl.”


	19. Heat Stroke

“Niall let go of me!” I whined when I finally couldn’t stand being smothered by his body heat anymore.

He just groaned and pulled me in closer blissfully unaware that I was uncomfortable and he was the problem. I swear that boy would burn alive if the house caught on fire while he was asleep. It was so blasted hot in the cabin that I couldn’t get comfortable and that just made me cranky and Niall holding me tight with his body heat radiating off of him didn’t help. 

“Niall!” I snapped.

“What? What happened? What did I do?” I rambled quickly when he was startled awake by my scream.

“You wouldn’t let go of me and I’m sweating! I though you said there was air!” I grumbled.

“There is but it feels fine in here babe.”

“It’s a fucking sauna!”

“No really it’s not.”

I just stared at him with daggers in my eyes. He was irritating me and I was not in a mood to let it go. Everything irritated me when I was cranky, and I didn’t have the patience to deal with it. When I was this irritable I was in the mindset of ‘if it pisses you off kill it’ and I was on the verge of killing Niall.

“I don’t really care if you think it feels fine! I think it’s hotter than Hades in here and I’m about to pass out from heat stroke and I’m nauseous and the heat is making it worse now where is the damn thermostat!”

He held up his hands to surrender and mumbled something about the thermostat being in the hallway and I was out of the room on a mission before he finished his sentence. I found the thermostat and read that it was only 25 °C which would normally be comfortable, but for some reason I wasn’t comfortable with it today. I quickly turned it down to 21 partly because I wanted it to cool down and partly to spite Niall if he thought it was comfortable now he would probably be freezing when the house reached my desired temperature. I stormed back into the bedroom still screaming about it being hot throwing my hair into a pony tail and ripping off my shirt leaving me in just my panties. 

“Are you OK?” Niall asked bravely.

“I don’t know Niall! Do I seem OK?” I shouted sarcastically.

“Babe calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down Niall! I don’t want to calm down! I’m hot and cranky and if I want to scream and shout about it because that’s going to make me feel better while I’m waiting for it to cool down then that’s what I’m going to do!”

“Oh-ok. I’m sorry I said something.” Niall replied softly. He got up quietly and went into the bathroom I thought I had hurt his feeling and felt bad for a moment but it vanished quickly, overtaken by my irritability. I heard the water running briefly and he came back out with a damp washcloth. “Here” he said as he placed the cool damp cloth on the back of my neck, “this should help you cool off.”

“Thanks” I sighed, “I’m sorry I’ve been so bitchy this morning.”

He just chuckled. “Well it’s not exactly how I pictured my Saturday morning but it’s fine, I’m used to it. I should know better by now. When you’re cranky I should just let you be cranky.”

“I’m sorry I’ve yelled at you all morning.”

“It’s ok, I don’t take it personally anymore, I know it just makes you feel better. Are you cooling off yet?”

“Yeah I feel a little better now thanks. Actually I think I might be starting to get cold now.” I giggled

“Well then let’s get you back to bed and under the covers.”

“Niall?” I asked as I climbed back into bed and was winding down from my demonic fit.

“Hmm?”

“I’m hungry.”

“What do you want to eat? Do you want to try another sandwich?”

“NO!” I practically jumped down his throat.

“OK OK!” he chuckled “What do you want then?”

“Maybe some toast with some peanut butter.”

“Coming right up.” He said as he trotted off towards the door.

“Niall?” I asked as he opened the door.

“What?” he asked turning around to face me.

“Will you cuddle with me when you get back?”

“That depends. Will you yell at me for it again?”

“Not unless you fall asleep and don’t let go when I ask.”

“Then no.”

I gasped with a squeak and feigned offense to his answer. “Why not?” I demanded.

“I told you I wouldn’t make promises I can’t keep and you know how much I like sleep and how hard it is to wake me up.” He reasoned.

“Ni! Will you please just cuddle with me?” I pouted.

“I was just messin’ with you babe. How could I deny my princess anything she asks for?”

“It’s just not possible.” I giggled.

“Nope. You’ve trained me far too well for me to still think I can say no to you.”

“I did not train you like you some sort dog!”

“Well there were food incentives in the beginning.”

“Yeah whatever, just go make me my toast.”

“As you wish” he mocked as he bowed and backed out of the room. 

I flipped through the channels waiting for him to come back with my food finally settling on a station he would probably complain about but let me watch anyway. He came back in with a tray of food.

“I didn’t know how much peanut butter you wanted because sometimes you like a lot and other times you like hardly any so I figured I would just bring you the jar and let you make that all important decision.”

“Thanks! I take it the sandwich is for you?”

“Yeah I figured I’d make myself something while I was up.” He set the tray over my lap and walked around to the other side of the bed to crawl in next to me. “What are we watching.” He mumbled with a mouthful of food once he was situated.

“America’s Next Top Model, and don’t talk with your mouth full your mother raised you better than that.”

“Sorry,” he said before he swallowed, “but do I really have to suffer through America’s Next Top Model?”

“If I sat through your football match yesterday then you can sit through my choice in shows as someone always used to remind me as kids ‘we have to take turns’. You had your turn, now it’s my turn.”

“See you’re going to make a great mom! You already treat me as if I’m a child.”

“That’s because you act like a child sometimes.”

“Maybe so, but you’re great about dealing with it.”

“Whatever, just watch the pretty girls on the telly.”

“Wait, are you telling to look at other girls? Because I think you have that one backwards, you’re supposed to tell me NOT to look at them. That’s how everyone else’s relationship works.”

“Yeah like whose?”

“Louis and Eleanor’s.”

“Well we’re not in Louis and Eleanor’s relationship are we?”

“No.”

“The why does it matter what their relationship is like? This is our relationship and clearly I don’t feel the same way.”

“But-“

“Niall I am giving you permission to ogle at other girls why are you complaining?”

“I don’t really know I’m just gonna shut up now.”

“Good choice.” I responded as I took a bite of my toast.

Three pieces of toast and two eliminations later I was cuddled into Niall with the duvet up to my neck shivering to get warm. Niall eventually gave up on trying to warm me up himself and got up to turn the air off.

“Can we leave early tomorrow?” I asked when he came back to bed.

“Yeah. Do you not like it here?”

“No it’s great. As much as I loved getting away from everything and staying in bed all day I miss our bed, and my curling iron and my clothes and wifi and you smell like strangers and I don’t like it you’re supposed to smell like you and you don’t and I’m not appreciative of that.”

“Haha. Yeah when we wake up tomorrow we’ll pack up and leave.”

“Or…we pack up tonight so that we can leave as soon as we wake up.”

“Anything for my princess.” He said as he got up and began to pack his things up. I started to get up to get my things together but I was interrupted before my feet hit the ground. “Uh-uh back in bed, I’ll pack up your things you just relax.”

“Ni you don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t care this vacation was about you relaxing, so, relax and let me take care of the packing.”

He took forever and he had a lot of questions for me but it was cute that he was trying so hard. When he was finished he went to take a shower. I stayed in bed too exhausted to put effort into anything but too uncomfortable to sleep. About an hour later I finally heard the water shut off and it was another 20 minutes before Niall came out and climbed into bed. 

“You’re still awake?” he asked surprised when I assumed my place cuddled into his side.

“Couldn’t sleep without you.”

“If I’d have known that I wouldn’t have take so long.”

“It’s fine,” I sighed. “Niall did you mean what you said earlier?”

“What did I say?”

“That I would make a good mom.”

“Yeah I meant it. There’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll be a great mom.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being so supportive and attentive, and not taking it personally when I flip out over nothing and basically just putting up with me.”

“I don’t put up with you I love you.”

“I love you too Ni.”

“Get some sleep princess.” He cooed as he pulled me closer into him. I tried to resist so I could continue talking to him but my body had other ideas and was lulled to sleep by Niall’s heartbeat in my ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you guys think so far! Any and all feedback is welcome


	20. Surprise Visitor

I was slowly pulled out of my sleep filled daze by a constant tickle next to my ear. Every time I would twitch it away it would come back ten seconds later and eventually it started to wake me up. When I started to come to I realized it was Niall whispering in my ear trying to wake me up. 

“Babe. Time to wake up Princess.” He cooed softly.

I merely groaned and rolled over to peek an eye open at him. “What?”

“I wanted to let you sleep in but you said you wanted to leave early so you might want to get up now.”

“How early is early?”

“Almost 2 in the afternoon.”

“Why’d you let me sleep so late?”

“You looked too peaceful to wake up.” He smiled. “Plus I figured if I woke you up too early I would lose my head.”

“You probably would have. Alright let me just pee first and then we can go.”

“While you do that I’ll go put our bags in the car.”

We got on the road about ten minutes later and I slept most of the ride. I normally don’t sleep so much but between the heat and the pregnancy draining all of my energy I didn’t really want to do anything other than sleep right now. 

*Niall’s POV*

The ride home was quiet since Kat fell asleep after the first fifteen minutes. She looked absolutely ridiculous when she slept, with her hair messed up spread across her face and her mouth wide open drooling on the window she was resting on. As ridiculous as she looked though it still made my heart swell when I looked at her. I was going to let her sleep and just carry her up to our flat but the slam of the car door jolted her awake. 

“Sorry Princess didn’t mean to wake you.” I said as I opened her door. 

“It’s fine, I’ve been sleeping too much today anyway.” She replied and slid out of the car.

I grabbed the bags from the back and we walked inside together. When we got approached our flat Kat started to get out her Keys but we noticed the door was already slightly open. I tried to peek inside to see if there was anyone there but I couldn’t see anything. When I turned back to Kat she was holding a knife in her hand.

“Where the hell did you pull that out from?”

“My bra.” She stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Why do you keep a pocket knife in your bra?”

“Rule number 9 never leave home without a knife. Haven’t you ever seen NCIS?”

“No. And what if there’s someone in there and they have a gun? What’s your knife going to do?”

“The average person can lunge five feet. Inside of five feet I win outside of five feet I have other options.”

“Like what?”

“Like running. Haven’t you ever seen Criminal minds?”

“No and you’re not going in there I’m not letting you. We’re calling the police. There could be dangerous gun wielding maniacs in there.”

“Odds are there’s no one in there anyway. Stop being such a wimp.” She exclaimed before she walked right in with no qualms. I followed her instinctively, although I really shouldn’t be afraid for her and I probably wouldn’t be much help, when we were kids she generally won fights with Greg while I always got my ass kicked. “Oh yeah such a dangerous gun wielding maniac.” She spat sarcastically as we were met with a snoring man with a beer gut passed out on the couch. 

“Ok so he doesn’t look that dangerous passed out like that but what do we do?”

“Call the police, and Paul…and a real estate agent.” She reasoned as she walked into the kitchen and grabbed a water. “How are you so calm about this?”

“Oh right, you haven’t met, Niall that’s David…David this is Niall.” She motioned mockingly to the unconscious man.

“How are you so calm when that man was just threatening you a few days ago?” I asked as she picked up the phone and called the police. 

“It’s around six which means he just passed out and shouldn’t be up until 9ish.”

The police woke him up and arrested him before taking our statements. There wasn’t really much to tell since he was there when we got home but they did lecture Kat about how she should have called them before just walking in which I was grateful for since I knew she wouldn’t take it well if it came from me. 

“How were you just so calm during this whole situation?” I asked once everyone had finally left, “and since when did you start carrying a knife around?”

“Look, you may have gotten to stay in picture perfect suburbia your whole life but I didn’t, I’ve lived in some pretty sketchy areas and had to learn how to carry myself in a way that didn’t make me a target.” She spat as if she were irritated at my questioning. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” I said in a soft tone.

“I know and I’m sorry I snapped, I just―I didn’t have that great of a childhood ok and I don’t like being reminded of it.” She said softer this time.

“It’s fine, I get it…kind of, I won’t bring it up again.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you hungry? Do you want me to order some food?”

“I’m really craving a pizza.”

“Ok, I think I can make that happen. What do you want on it?”

“Pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, and green olives…and M&M’s.”

“M&M’s?”

“Blame your child but that’s what I want.”

“OK well I don’t think that pizza places carry M&M’s but I think we have some here so we can put them on once we get it.”

“But then they won’t be warm and melty.” She whined.

I took a deep breath as I searched for an answer. “Alright I guess I’ll bring them the M&M’s. You want pepperoni, mushrooms, black and green olives and the M&M’s right?”

“Yes thank you Ni.”

“Welcome but I have to go in to order do you want to come with me or stay here?”

“I think I’ll stay here and clean up a bit, he left quite the mess.”

“Ok then I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

I walked down to the pizza place since it was only a block away. I had done too much driving today and I wanted to stretch my legs a little. When I got there I placed my order and asked them to put the M&M’s on it the guy taking my order looked at me kind of funny.

“Look, my girlfriend is pregnant and she wants M&M’s on her pizza and they have to be on there when you put the pizza in the oven because otherwise they won’t be ‘warm and melty’ and that will be a problem.”

“I’m not sure we can do that.” The kid taking my order responded.

“Then let me talk to manager because if I don’t come home with a pizza that has warm and melty M&M’s on it she going to be upset and I will bring her down here so she can yell at you not me.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He said warily as he took the bag of M&M’s.

Luckily The manager had 3 kids and remembered what it was like when his wife had cravings so he let the staff use the M&M’s I brought. Twenty minutes later I was walking back with two pizza’s a normal one for me and one with warm and melty M&M’s for Kat. I walked in the door and gained her attention almost immediately. 

“Did you get it with M&M’s?” she shouted

“Warm and melty as requested.”

“Why are there two boxes?”

“Because I don’t want pizza with warm and melty M&M’s.” I chuckled.

“Yeah that probably sounds disgusting to everyone else huh?”

“You should have seen the guy’s face that took my order.”

“Where do you want to eat?” she asked.

“On the couch while we watch a Disney movie?”

“Alright. What movie do you want to watch?”

“I just got Up. Want to watch that?”

“As long as you’re willing to hold me when I start bawling my eyes out because that movie made me cry before I had all these pregnancy hormones making me crazy.”

“I am more than willing to hold you when you cry.”

We brought the food to the living room and started the movie. I kept getting distracted from the movie because Kat was devouring her pizza. I think there were times she didn’t even chew but just swallowed the bite whole.

“Geeze slow down babe it’ll still be there after you chew.”

“I’m hungry ok? Don’t tell me how to eat.” She joked.

“OK OK just don’t choke.”

“Mhmm.” She mumbled with a full mouth. 

About two hours later she was snuggled into my arms and bawling her eyes out at the end of the movie. 

“Do you need a tissue?” I asked her.

“Uh-huh.” She sobbed and nodded.

I handed her the box of tissues which she promptly used almost half of and I continued to hold her. 

“Go turn off the movie the song in the credits is really annoying.” She snapped.

I scrambled off the couch to fulfill her request noting the irritation on the verge of anger in her voice. She had always had that effect on me; I was always more than willing to do anything she needed. All I ever wanted to do was make her happy and now that we were a couple I really didn’t want to screw it up. “So what do you want to watch now?” I asked as she threw away her tissues and sat back down.

“Whatever you want, I had the remote last night and I probably won’t pay much attention to anything you put on anyway.”

“Well if you’re not going to watch anything I put on then why don’t you just choose what we watch?”

“No its fine I just want to snuggle with you and relax.” She insisted. I found something on TV and held her close to me. “Ni?” she asked apprehensively.

“What do you need Princess?”

“Do we have any ginger ale?”

“I don’t think so why? Do you want some?”

“Yeah, I’m a little nauseous and I was thinking it might help settle my stomach.”

“Do you want me to run to the corner store and get you some?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.” She replied meekly.

I rushed down to the store to get her a pack of ginger ale as fast as I could but apparently it wasn’t fast enough because when I walked back in I could hear her getting sick in the bathroom. I rushed to her side to hold her hair and rub her back, happy to help in whatever way I could.

“Feel better now?” I asked when she finally stopped.

“A little yeah, did they have any ginger ale?”

“Yeah it’s on the kitchen counter do you want some right now?”

“Not really I’ve been puking since you left; I’m tired and just want to go to bed now.”

“OK you go get in bed and I’ll put your ginger ale in the fridge and be right back.”

I took care of the ginger ale and hurried back as soon as I could, changing and slipping under the covers next to her. “Hey Ni?” she asked as she got comfortable.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you for being so perfect.”

I just smiled and pulled her in close kissing the top of her head in response before we both drifted off to sleep.


	21. Platelets and Hormones

“Hey Ni remember I have the sonogram tomorrow at 3 if you want to be there.”

“Haven’t forgotten Princess, I will definitely be there. I should be done at the studio by 2 and I can meet you there.” He said as he kissed me on the cheek and set his plate in the sink for me to clean. 

I was eight weeks along and I had my first sonogram appointment. I was nervous and excited about it and it made my heart swell knowing that Niall wanted to be there. I was so glad that he had no reservations about accepting this baby and being a father to it. It helped to know that I wasn’t alone. Niall had been so attentive the past few weeks, getting me any weird cravings I had and he was always there to hold my hair when I had morning sickness, although for me it was more like night sickness. He had to start going into work the past few days though since they were getting ready for a trip to Japan. I would be without him for a few weeks but Maura was flying out to be with me while he’s gone and then stay for awhile longer to visit with him. 

The next day I was sitting in the waiting room waiting for not only the doctor, but also Niall. It was already 2:45 and he was nowhere to be found. Lucky for him the doctor was called in for a delivery so everything was behind schedule. He didn’t show up until 3:15 and he entered the waiting room looking panicked.

“Did I miss it?” he asked hurriedly.

“Calm down you didn’t miss anything, the doctor’s running behind you’re fine.”

“I’m sorry we were running late and they kept asking me to re-record my part, I left as soon as I could.”

“It’s fine but next time at least text me! I was trying not to worry.” I pouted.

“I’m sorry Princess; I’ll make it up to you.”

“I don’t want you to make it up to me I want you to learn how to use a phone!”

“Ok I’m sorry I will text you next time.”

“Thank you.”

Another 15 minutes later and you were in an exam room waiting for the ultrasound technician. A bubbly blonde came in and introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Kelly one of the ultrasound techs here are you Kat?”

“Yeah.” I smiled.

“And are you the father or…” she asked looking at Niall.

You were about to answer for him and say not technically but Niall beat you to it. “Sure am.” He said not missing a beat, it made me slightly emotional that he felt that strongly about it, that even though the baby wasn’t his biologically he still considered it his without hesitation.

“Alright well mom, if you’ll just lie back and lift your shirt up a bit then we can have a look at your baby.” I listened to her instruction and patiently awaited the cold gel that I knew was coming. “This will be a little cold.” She warned. She spread the cool gel on my stomach and moved the wand around trying to find a good picture. I turned my head to the screen to see my baby; I couldn’t really make anything out at first other than black wavy lines. But eventually she found a good angle where I could make out a little tiny body and things started to become real, there was a baby inside of me. I turned to Niall to see him staring at the monitor mouth agape and eyes wide. 

“Now, with a little luck I’ll be able to find the heartbeat.” The tech smiled sweetly at me and soon enough a little sound that resembled train tracks washed over the room. A sense of relief and joy washed over me as I realized that the little tiny baby inside of me really was alive. I turned back to Ni and saw a tear roll down his cheek so I squeezed his hand. “Would you like a copy of the sonogram?”

“Yeah actually can we get two copies?” Niall responded.

“Sure thing, I’ll be right back.” She said before leaving us alone in the room.

“I can’t believe you made that. That little baby is growing because of you! That is so amazing!” Niall gushed.

I just chuckled at his reaction having no words to describe what I was feeling. The nurse came back and handed us the copies of the sonogram.

“The doctor will be in shortly he wants to talk to you about some of your test results before you leave.”

“Ok thanks.” Niall replied.

The doctor came in and sat on the stool in front of Niall and me. “Kat, I wanted to talk to you about your platelet count because it’s a little lower than I would like.”

“Is that bad for the baby?” Niall rushed in.

“Not where they are right now no. However they are on the lower end of the range we like them to be in which is why I want to keep an eye on them, to make sure they don’t drop any further.”

“Do you know why my platelet count would be low?”

“That’d also why I wanted to talk to you. You aren’t on any medications so I’m not sure what’s causing it. I would like to ask you a few questions to try and find out.”

“OK.”

“Have you ever had a history of bleeding problems or any family history of bleeding problems?”

“No not that I know of.”

“Any alcohol or substance abuse history?”

“No.”

“Have you had a blood transfusion recently?”

“Yeah, I was hit by a car a few weeks ago and they had to give me a blood transfusion.”

“OK! That’s good! Usually you’re platelet count will readjust on its own if it was caused by a transfusion. I would like to see you in at the end of the week to get a new platelet count just to make sure everything’s on track; you can schedule that with Julie on your way out. Do you have any other questions?”

“What would happen if my platelet counts were to drop more?”

“Then we would have to start some form of treatment and of course there would be the chance of miscarriage. However I see that as unlikely at this point based on what we know.”

On the way out I scheduled a blood test with Julie and Niall took us home stopping for Nando’s on the way home because I had a craving and he never say no to Nando’s…or my cravings.

“I still can’t believe it! That’s our baby!” he gushed as he looked at the sonogram for the hundredth time as I cleaned up the trash from dinner. “I can’t wait to show everyone.” I winced at the thought.

“Ni? Can we just slow down for a minute?”

“Do you not want to tell people yet?”

“You can tell the boys I just, I don’t want the whole world to know yet ok?”

“You do know that there were pictures everywhere of you leaving the hospital when you found out you were pregnant and when you were hit by the truck.”

“Yes and they think I got heat stroke and was hit by a truck.”

“Why don’t you want to tell people? Aren’t you excited? I am.”

“Yes I’m excited but you heard the doctor, if things don’t go the way we want them to I could lose this baby. And if that happens I don’t want a bunch of sympathetic tweets about it and I definitely don’t want the rude fans to tweet about how I deserved it and that they’re happy about it because you know there will be some of those. I just want to make it through the first trimester before we tell people ok? You only have to suffer for one more month.”

“OK.” He sighed. “If you don’t want to tell people we don’t have to, I get it. But now I have a request for you.”

“Ok…what?”

“When we do tell people I don’t want to get into the whole biologically the baby’s not mine thing. All anyone needs to know is that you’re pregnant and I’m going to be a father.”

“OK, we can do that.” I replied sweetly.

“Thank you.” He said before placing a chaste but loving kiss on my lips.

We invited the boys over for dinner that weekend because Niall really wanted to tell them he was going to be a dad. His ADD really came out while we were waiting for them to come over; he couldn’t sit still and was absolutely no help in getting ready. However he started to calm down after people started arriving. Liam had brought Danielle and Louis had brought Eleanor granted this wasn’t the first impression I wanted to make with them but I was hoping things would go well. We were just finishing up dinner but were still sitting around the table when Niall decided to make his announcement.

“So-um…Kat and I have an announcement to make,” Niall started, he took a deep breath before continuing, “We’re going to be parents, Kat is pregnant.” He beamed.

Liam was the first to respond. “This is why you need to be responsible and use a condom if you’re going to have sex, so that you’re not parents at 20.” I don’t know if it was actually what he was saying or if it was all the hormones in me but I lost it and burst into angry tears.

I stood up furiously exclaiming, “Sorry I wasn’t responsible enough to get my rapist to use a condom! Fuck You!” I stormed off to our bedroom to finish crying. 

Niall moved to go after me but Emily stood up saying, “I got her.” and followed me into the bedroom to sit with me and rub my back while I cried.

I could still hear what was going on in the kitchen and that only made things worse.

“Ok so maybe I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions but have you even thought this through I mean have you considered other options?” Liam continued.

“Yes we have in fact she was going to get an abortion but couldn’t go through with it, she was so distraught over it that she didn’t see the truck barreling towards her and ended up in the hospital. The very first thing she asked about when she came to was if the baby was ok. So yes we have thought this through.” Niall growled.

“But I mean why are you involved in this it’s not even your kid!”

“That girl has meant the world to me since we were three years old. I would do anything for her. When I look at her everything is right with the world and nothing else matters. When we weren’t in contact it was like a part of me was missing and now that I have her back I am not letting her go anywhere. I’m sorry that you can’t understand that but I love her way too much to let her do this on her own.” Niall said in a cold unwavering tone.

“Liam do you even hear yourself? If Dani was raped and ended up pregnant would you leave her? Probably not because that’s a pretty dick move.” Harry stated in a soft undertone to the heated conversation.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to make sure that you’ve thought this through and I probably went about it in a shit way.” Liam sighed defeated.

“We have and it’s not me you need to apologize to.” Niall said.

I could hear him walking in my direction but I was still angry and hormonal and did not want to talk to him. I heard a knock at the door as he opened it to try and talk to me. “Kat can I-“

“Get out!” I screamed at him.

“I just want to…” he tried.

“Get out!” I screamed a little louder.

“Kat…”

I was completely done with him so I picked up the lamp on the bedside table next to me and chucked it in his direction screaming “Get out!” one final time. This time he got the message and left. 

I heard Niall shuffle everyone out except for Harry probably since Emily was still with me. I was still crying like a baby when they knocked on the door and Harry’s soft voice asked if they could come in. I didn’t really have the energy to speak so I just nodded and Emily answered for me. They came in and Niall sat down next to me.

“Are you OK?” he asked. I just shook my head and started crying harder so he moved to lie down next to me and hold me.

“I’ll just clean up the lamp for you and then we’ll be out of your hair. Call us if you need anything.”

Niall said something to them that I wasn’t really paying attention to and they left soon after. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t even really know what happened, when I heard what he said I just got really angry and upset and I lost it.”

“He didn’t mean any harm and he feels bad about it, he tried to apologize.”

“I know but I was still angry and didn’t want to hear it.”

“Is that why you threw the lamp at him?” he chuckled.

“Partially. I threw the lamp at him because I told him to leave twice and he still tried to talk to me. Plus I never really liked that lamp.”

“You never liked the lamp!”

“No it was dreadful!”

“Well then you can pick out the new one. Do you want to go cuddle and watch some Disney?”

“Eh, I’m kind of really tired; I just want to go to sleep.”

“Still tired? I thought you wouldn’t be as tired once your platelet counts went up.”

“And I’m not as tired as I was before. However I am growing a second human inside of me! That has to be a lot of work and I think I have the right to be a little tired here and there.”

He just laughed and we got ready for bed. I slept in his arms and the longer he held me the better I felt. He always had that effect on me. When we were younger I wanted to ask Jimmy Duncan to the end of the year dance and he literally laughed when I asked him saying that he was going with someone else and I cried in Niall’s arms when we got home. By the end of the night I had forgotten it had ever happened. Niall was sort of like an emotional band-aid to me.


	22. Waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you guys might hat me for this chapter but please don’t stop reading because I swear the end of the story will turn out really well. Also I didn’t have this edited so sorry for any mistakes.

I felt a shift in the bed while I was sleeping and I suddenly wasn’t warm anymore. I forced myself awake and pried my eyes open in time to see Niall headed to the closet. I silently got out of a bed and came up behind him to wrap my arms around him and bury my face in his back.

“I don’t want you to go.” I mumbled into his skin. He turned around to hold me as he spoke.

“I know baby. I don’t want to go either but I have to. It’s only 2 weeks. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“2 and a half weeks that’s almost 3 weeks, that’s almost a month!” I exclaimed becoming a little over emotional.

“Calm down babe, it won’t be as long as it seems. You can call me if you need anything at all. Besides, like you said you went five years without me two weeks will be a breeze.”

“I know I just don’t have a good feeling.”

“What do ya mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s nothing, forget about it I’m just hormonal.”

I sat on the bed as he got dressed and followed him downstairs as he got ready to leave. We never actually said goodbye. We just held each other until the driver came. He gave me a long kiss and left without either of us saying anything so that we didn’t break down. I was feeling mopey so I went back to bed after he left since Maura wasn’t coming until tonight. 

I was woken up mid-afternoon by the need to vomit. I had some minor cramping and spotting but the doctor had said that was normal so I wasn’t worried about it. After the morning sickness had passed I decided to get something to eat but was overcome by an unbearable pain in my stomach. I tried to stay as calm as possible as I called the doctor but it was hard to maintain that after he told me to go to the hospital. 

It wasn’t quick, that would have been preferable. Instead it was agonizingly slow. The baby had detached from the placenta. There wasn’t anything anyone could do but wait. So that’s what I did. I waited, in a cold hospital room. While I watched my baby’s heart beat wither away. No way to help. My first failure as a mother…and a pretty devastating one. They wanted to keep me there but I just wanted to go home and curl into a ball. So I left and did just that. I didn’t eat, I didn’t drink, I didn’t think. I just curled into a ball and slept. Not even sad, just numb, no emotions left to feel.

There was a soft knock at the door that finally pulled me out of my nap. I rolled over to look at the clock and saw I had slept for 7 or 8 hours. I figured it was Maura so I moaned a “come in.”

“Hi dear, how are you feeling?”

I just shrugged.

“Well why don’t you get up and I can make you some dinner. I’ve heard that baby of yours has quite the appetite.”

That stung a little bit, but I couldn’t tell her what happened, so I just followed her into the kitchen. We sort of had a conversation. She only asked yes or no questions and I only gave one word responses. She didn’t push to find out what was wrong or why I was upset, which I was grateful for. To be honest I was kind of glad it happened while I was alone. I don’t take it very well when people try to comfort me. It just irritates me more than anything. The only one that doesn’t irritate me is Niall but I don’t think I could look at him right now. He had been so excited for this baby. 

The two weeks passed by like the blink of an eye. I had put forth minimal effort in anything I did and had spent most of the two weeks in bed waiting for Niall to come home. I didn’t even call Niall I just texted him. I think I started to worry Maura. I didn’t even leave bed the day I knew Niall was coming home. I heard the front door open so I rolled out of bed to go downstairs and greet him. On the way down I heard Maura whispering something to him that was probably about me. 

“Hey babe!” he said when he saw me. 

I just smiled a weak smile, walked over to him and latched on. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked concerned. I just broke down and let out all the tears I had been afraid to cry for the past two weeks.   
At some point Niall had carried me to our bedroom laid us down. I cried for what had to have been at least an hour. 

“Are you good to talk now?” he asked when I was finally done crying.

“I think so yeah.” I whispered.

“So what’s wrong why were you crying?”

“I lost the baby.” I said so quietly I didn’t think he would hear me.

“Oh babe,” he whispered quietly and hugged me tighter. “When? What happened?”

“The day you left. Apparently the baby detached from the placenta. There was nothing they could do.”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

I shrugged. “It kind of happened fast. I was in pain so I called the doctor and then I was in the hospital. Once I got home I didn’t really have the energy to do anything so I just slept until your mom woke me up for dinner.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“I just couldn’t bring myself to. I don’t know why but I just couldn’t.”

Things were silent for a while.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered. 

“Baby, this is in no way your fault. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

I just nodded as I started to cry again. 

“Hey, it’s okay, everything will be okay.” He soothed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think! I swear I know what I’m doing so please don’t hate me for this chapter because I have a plan.


	23. Breaking Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry for my hiatus but I'm back with a vengeance now!

*Niall’s POV*

“So do you want to go tell my mom then? Since I’m here now?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

“I don’t think I can tell anyone just yet Ni.” She sighed.

“Well you’re going to have to tell people at some point.”

“Who says,” she whispered.

I knew she didn’t really mean it and that she just wanted to avoid it for a bit longer but I was tired from traveling and I wasn’t thinking clearly. “Well you’re going to have to tell them eventually. My mum knows you were pregnant and so do the boys. They’re going to notice when you don’t have a baby in nine months.”  
I realized too late that I shouldn’t have snapped like that as her head snapped up and she looked at me in shock, hurt evident in her eyes. She was only frozen for a moment before she angrily stormed off to the bathroom punctuating her actions by slamming the door. I let out a long sigh realizing how badly I had screwed up. To make matters worse my mum came in.

“Is everything alright dear? I heard a loud bang.” She asked concerned.

“Everything is fine mum. I just said something I shouldn’t have and it struck a nerve.” I replied motioning to the bathroom door. 

“Ah. I see. Well I’ll just go make dinner and leave you two to work things out.”

I took a deep breath as I walked over to the bathroom door and knocked softly. “Babe, I’m sorry can you open up?”

“Are you going to continue being a jackass?” she yelled through the door.

“Yes,” I tried to joke.

“Then no!”

“Babe come on I was just kidding. I’m really sorry I shouldn’t have snapped like that. Please just open the door.” There were a few moments of silence before I tried again. “I promise I won’t be a jackass.”

There was some shuffling around before I heard the click of the lock and the door swung open. I didn’t see her from my vantage point so I walked in and saw her sitting on the ground next to the doorframe. It was clear she had been crying, which only made me feel a thousand times worse. 

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine I’m just overreacting.”

“Let’s just go eat dinner with my mum and leave this to deal with later.”

“Thanks Ni.”

*Kat’s POV*

Maura made dinner for us and no matter how much we tried to help she did nothing but shoo us into the living room yelling at us to spend time together. So we sat on the couch in the living room cuddled into each other, neither one of us saying anything, both just enjoying finally being with each other.

“I should probably tell her shouldn’t I?” I asked Niall, referring to the miscarriage.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that.”

“No it’s fine. I have to face this eventually right? Might as well start by telling your mom.”

“Tell me what?” Maura asked as she walked into the living room catching the end of our conversation.

“Is dinner ready?” Niall asked completely forgetting about our conversation, now focused entirely on food. 

“It will be when the two of you tell me whatever it is that you have to tell me.”

“Well,” I started “I…um...I lost the baby. A while ago actually, right before you got here.”

“Oh honey, why didn’t you guys tell me?”

“Niall didn’t know, it happened after he left and before you got here.” I clarified just above a whisper.

“Dinner’s just about ready come help set the table.” She said before getting up and walking away.

“That’s it?” I questioned Niall after she had left the room.

“You grew up around her, she knows you and she knows that you don’t want to dwell on it.” He answered.

Eventually I worked up the courage to tell Emily, who then told Harry who told the others. I became pretty distant though, only leaving the flat when I had to and never saying much of anything to anyone. The only people who really noticed were Niall and Emily but I would always brush them off with an excuse of being tired. Emily dropped it after a while and eventually so did Niall, at least I thought he had. 

“Kat I want to ask you something but I want you to be 100% honest and not just say what you think I want to hear.” Niall exclaimed out of the blue while we were curled up on the couch watching a football match.

“OK.” I figured that if he wanted to talk to me while there was a football match on it had to be important.

“Do you want to have a baby? Like do you want to get pregnant again? Like soon?”

His question shocked me and I didn’t really know how to answer it. “I don’t really know. I mean I definitely want to have a baby at some point but I don’t know about right now. Why?”

“I just know that you’ve been beating yourself up over the miscarriage and it seemed like you wanted to be pregnant. I thought that if giving you a baby would get you out of this depression of yours and make you happy then I would give you a baby.”

“I don’t think that would help and in all honesty it would be pretty stupid of us to get pregnant right now we’re not ready for it yet and we’re still pretty young. Plus I don’t want it to be like we’re replacing her.”

“OK I get it. I just wanted to know if there was something I could do to fix you.”

“I’m not a car Niall you can’t just fix me.”

“That’s not how I meant it. I just want you to get back to yourself.”

“I know. I’m sorry I snapped.”

I continued to become more distant, only speaking if I absolutely had to. I pushed away everyone in my life because I just wanted to be alone. One morning I finally reached my breaking point. When I had woken up Niall’s side of the bed was made and when I made my way downstairs it was clear that the couch had been slept on. I had hit my rock bottom; I realized that by pushing everyone away I was only hurting myself more. I was close to losing the love of my life simply because I was too stupid to let him help me. I made a snap decision and got dressed to go into work instead of just half ass-ing my work from my laptop in my bed.   
It was the best decision I could have made for myself. It gave me something to focus on other than myself and I was much too busy to worry about anything other than my work. I couldn’t dwell on the past anymore I had a present and a future to worry about. 

*Niall’s POV*

When I came home that night my ears were met with the sound of Mayday Parade’s Kids in Love blaring through the house and a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. I had no idea what was going on since the flat had practically been a grave yard the past few months so I followed the smell into the kitchen to see what was going on.   
I was met with the sight of Kat dancing around to the music while simultaneously seasoning food. I just watched her in awe until she saw me. 

“Oh good! You’re home just in time for dinner! I made Chicken and pasta and salad and mashed potatoes and green beans and I know I probably made way too much food but I was just starving and then I started cooking and got even more hungry so I just made everything that came to mind because I have made way too many decisions today and just could not make anymore!” she rambled quickly and I just smiled as I watched her, she was finally back to herself and it made me happy to see her this way again. 

“You’re probably starving because you haven’t eaten in two months!”

“Yeah…about my behavior the past few months I’m really really sorry and I can promise you that depressed no fun Kat is gone. All the not eating and pushing everyone away it ends tonight!”

“Not that I’m not grateful that you’re finally back to yourself but what happened to spark the sudden 180?”

“Well when I woke up I saw that you had slept on the couch and I realized that it was probably because I’ve done nothing but push you away and I really didn’t want to lose you so I got dressed and went into work. Which I really should’ve done a long time ago because it really got my mind off things, I forgot how much I love my job and by the time I left I felt like myself again, I feel like I woke up or something I don’t know it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Babe I only slept on the couch last night is because I went out with the boys. I came home so drunk I couldn’t make it up the stairs. You weren’t anywhere near losing me.”

“Oh. Well whatever, it was the kick in the pants I needed to stop wallowing in self pity! I feel like a brand new person!”

“Well I’m glad. And I’m happy you had a good day at work.”

“Me too” she said and then leaned across the island to kiss me before quickly returning to the food on the stove. 

We ate dinner together and she told me all about her day. Of course her eyes were bigger than her stomach and she had made way too much food so we had a ton of leftovers to put away. Afterwards we cuddled on the couch together and watched a random movie that was being aired that night. It was a dreadful movie which is probably how we found ourselves making out halfway through the movie. There was a passion that I hadn’t felt from her in ages and I ended up with a semi just from kissing her. She caught on when she bucked her hips up into mine and moaned out a quick “Bedroom, now.”

I woke up the next morning to an empty bed and a post-it on my forehead. 

“Last night was fun ;) but I had to go to work :( be back around 3ish”

I had mixed feelings. On the one hand I wanted to wake up with her in my arms and maybe spend the whole day like that, but on the other hand I was glad she was at work and back to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it was so short and nothing really happened this was kind of a slow chapter to get things moving. The rest of the fic won’t move so slowly and Niall will probably show up in the next chapter


End file.
